Stephanie Zhang – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:14:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Stephanie Zhang – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Glamorous Grad Student: Diogo Peixoto, neurobiology https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/30/glamorous-grad-student-diogo-peixoto-neurobiology/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/30/glamorous-grad-student-diogo-peixoto-neurobiology/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2016 07:32:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1112650 This week’s Glamorous Grad Student, Diogo Peixoto, is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in neurobiology. Peixoto is researching the neural basis for perceptual decision making and the brain circuits that combine visual information to make categorical decisions. The Daily spoke with Diogo about his experiences in the lab and the path that led him to pursue neuroscience.

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Courtesy of Diogo Peixoto
Courtesy of Diogo Peixoto

This week’s Glamorous Grad Student, Diogo Peixoto, is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in neurobiology. Peixoto is researching the neural basis for perceptual decision making and the brain circuits that combine visual information to make categorical decisions. The Daily spoke with Diogo about his experiences in the lab and the path that led him to pursue neuroscience.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): What is a typical day like for you?

Diogo Peixoto (DP): I would say a typical day — which is not what happens now that I’m finished with experiments — would be having someone run my rig in the morning, while I did analysis. Then, in the afternoon, I would run my own experiments, look at my data and maybe do some writing, if I [had] time. I would say it’s a 50-50 split between data analysis and data collection. You work on a schedule so that you always maximize the output of your experimental rig. When you’re doing data analysis, someone else is using it, and then you switch.

TSD: How did you come to your current choice of study?

DP: It was not a very straightforward path. I majored in physics in Portugal, and then I did the first year of my master’s program in statistical and nonlinear physics, still in Portugal. During the first year of my master’s, I applied to an international graduate program in neuroscience, and it was through that that I ended up coming to Stanford.   

TSD: What made you decided to apply to neuroscience after studying physics throughout undergrad and graduate school?

DP: Well, I was fascinated by physics, and I wanted to understand the laws of nature from a very mathematical sense. After that, it’s not that I was discouraged by research in physics, I was just more interested in biological systems, and I thought, “Which one is the most fascinating system I can think of?” And that’s how I ended up becoming interested in the brain, because of its complexity and the fact that we are sometimes so unaware of its amazing capabilities [and] still don’t really understand how a lot of things work.

TSD: What type of community does your department have?

DP: I would say that it’s a pretty tight-knit community. It’s very relaxed in terms of the atmosphere, but I think there are pretty high expectations for everyone in terms of scientific achievements. It’s a great balance. There’s no real competition between anyone because we all have different projects that we work on. Everyone likes to see everyone else succeed, and we all go to each other’s talks and defenses, or we celebrate when people get papers out. It’s a really great community in that sense; it’s very supportive.

TSD: What is your favorite bonding story from grad school thus far?

DP: I think it’s a natural course of a graduate student to be involved in the first four years. But by the fifth and sixth year[s], you start just focusing on defending and getting things out. But the retreats are always great. For the last four or five years, we’ve had an annual ski trip just for neuro students and friends. It’s not organized by [the department], but it’s something that the students put together, with a few people in charge who set everything up. Once a few of us snowboarded with my former program director, John Huguenard, which was really cool. He was way better than us, and so he showed us some routes. So that was a pretty fun memory.

TSD: Do you have any department rivalries?

DP: I wouldn’t say so. I think, because we’re so interdisciplinary, we don’t have any rivalries — not to my knowledge at least. We bring people from so many backgrounds, so that kind of thing doesn’t really exist.

TSD: You can only save one thing from your office/desk. What is it?

DP: I think that might be a pretty boring one. I have a hard drive with all my raw data. I have it backed up in a private server as well, but it gives me a peace of mind to have that hard drive sitting there, just in case something happens. There’s around three years of data there.

 

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Leaders’ smiles linked to culture https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/04/leaders-smiles-linked-to-culture/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/04/leaders-smiles-linked-to-culture/#respond Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:55:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1112069 According to a recent study by Associate Professor of Psychology Jeanne Tsai ’91, the smiles of leaders from a specific nation reflect the way people desire to feel positive emotions within that culture.

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According to a recent study by associate professor of psychology Jeanne Tsai ’91, the smiles of leaders from a specific nation reflect the way people desire to feel positive emotions within that culture.

Leaders in European cultures often display bright, toothy smiles, whereas leaders in East Asian cultures are pictured with closed-mouth and serene smiles.

The findings show that the more a nation values high-arousal positive states, such as excitement, the more likely its leaders are to show wider and bigger smiles in their official photos. On the other hand, the more a culture values low-arousal positive states, such as peacefulness, the more likely leaders are to show calm expressions.

Recently published in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Emotion,” these findings may have deep implications for the international and domestic relations between leaders from different cultures.

“[These cultural differences] can really lead to problems, especially in multicultural societies like ours,” Tsai said. “There may be cases where European Americans are misunderstanding Asian Americans who are showing the calm ideal, thinking that they’re not good leaders. In reality they might be excellent leaders, they’re just being judged against a different cultural ideal.”

Culture influences “ideal affect”

Tsai is director of Stanford’s Culture and Emotion Lab, which studies how culture influences emotions. Through past research, the lab has shown that culture influences how people want to feel even more than how they actually feel, a phenomenon called “ideal affect.”

Through comparisons of European American and Hong Kong Chinese Americans, Tsai’s lab has identified patterns in the ideal affect that Europeans and East Asians value. European Americans tend to value high-arousal positive states, whereas people in East Asian cultures value low-arousal positive states more.

In the present study, Tsai and colleagues sought to explain how these cultural values were displayed and transmitted. They hypothesized that values are reflected through forms of media and other widely distributed cultural products. Since leaders are often perceived as embodying cultural ideals, they compared official photos of leaders across different domains.

Cultural ideals reflected in leaders’ smiles

The lab conducted three studies that each examined a different aspect of how cultural ideals are displayed through leaders’ expressions. In the first two studies, the researchers compared the smiles of American and Chinese leaders across three domains: business, government and academia. In each domain, American leaders showed more excited smiles than Chinese leaders.

The third study sought to link leaders’ smiles with the ideal affect of the nation. Researchers compared the expressions of leaders in official photos with a survey conducted eight years earlier on the ideal affect of college students in 10 different nations. The data showed that reported ideal affect was correlated with the expressions of their leaders, suggesting that a nation’s ideal affect is reflected in leaders’ smiles. Additionally, the paper states that because the survey data was collected eight years earlier, this “decreases the likelihood that [the] officials were influencing national levels of ideal affect.”

National indicators such as a nation’s level of democracy, development or wealth did not predict the type of smile a leader would show. Additionally, even the “actual affect” of a culture – how people in that nation actually felt – did not correlate with the expressions of the leaders.

“This convinces us that it’s really the cultural value that is predicting the type of smile that the legislators are showing,” Tsai said. “That makes us conclude that it is these leaders’ photos that are reflecting the cultural ideal.”

Culture and society

Tsai predicts that the transmission of culture is a positive feedback loop. As people are exposed to the official photos of their leaders and other cultural products which reflect the ideal emotions in that culture, they consciously or unconsciously learn which emotions they should display.

“That’s what culture is,” Tsai said. “Culture is created by humans, but then also creates, shapes or produces future human behavior.”

 

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3@stanford.edu.

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Hack for Defense bridges tech and military https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/05/hack-for-defense-bridges-tech-and-military/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/05/hack-for-defense-bridges-tech-and-military/#respond Tue, 05 May 2015 19:34:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100428 Hack for Defense is an organization that serves as a platform to connect the Pentagon, Silicon Valley and Stanford University in order to solve some of the most pressing problems in national security.

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Hack for Defense is an organization that serves as a platform to connect the Pentagon, Silicon Valley and Stanford University in order to solve some of the most pressing problems in national security.

The initiative began as a collaboration between BMC, a company specializing in business service management, members within the government, and the Preventive Defense Project at Stanford, headed by Ash Carter and Bill Perry.

Although the program is currently in a pilot stage, the success of the initiative holds great potential for the future of national defense.

“The Pentagon recognizes that the gap is closing between our military and that of our allies and enemies in terms of technology,” said Lauren McCune ’15, one of the main student collaborators for Hack for Defense. “It’s super important to figure out how to harness that new and exciting technology that is here in Silicon Valley, and how to use that for national security purposes.”

According to Crystal Lee ’15, lead analyst for the most current iteration of Hack for Defense, the initiative marks the intersectionality between academia and industry.

“Solving problems in national security requires the private and public sector to work together, and Hack for Defense is really the first attempt to try to simplify that connection,” Lee said.

One problem within the military is clean water supply, a project that Lee is currently working on. “If you’re thinking about a theater like bases in Iraq or Afghanistan, getting water to a military base is a pretty hefty task…it’s a huge technological challenge that the military faces,” Lee said.

That’s where Hack for Defense comes in. The project meets with military leaders who have served in the field to refine the most urgent problems within the military. Next, the program identifies major companies within Silicon Valley that specialize in that field in order to create relevant and useful products to address the issue.

Members of the Stanford community play a role in creating this platform between government and industry, especially because of the university’s location and student body.

“I think Stanford is really well placed to bridge the gap between technology and policy,” Lee said, “as an institution that has such a prolific number of students who are interested in computer science and engineering; it’s shortsighted to think of these fields as policy-free. There are so many applicable uses for so many of the technologies being developed and many have these connections in government.”

Currently, there are many Stanford undergraduate and graduate students who are involved in the initiative program. Additionally, the program is using many of Stanford’s resources to facilitate its goals.  “Stanford is very much on point for this whole mission,” McCune said. “[The program] is utilizing all of our different assets; for example, the product realization lab, all of our alternative energy resource facilities, and the grad students especially here at the GSB who are veterans.”

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Allergy season strikes Stanford hard https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/20/allergy-season-strikes-stanford-hard/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/20/allergy-season-strikes-stanford-hard/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:00:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1099240 This year, allergy season arrived earlier than usual and, according to Vaden, seems to be affecting more students around campus than past years.

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This Mulberry tree in the Main Quad is a source of pollen that has affected Stanford students this spring (ARNAV MARIWALA/The Stanford Daily).
This Mulberry tree in the Main Quad is a source of pollen that has affected Stanford students this spring (ARNAV MARIWALA/The Stanford Daily).

This year, allergy season arrived earlier than usual and, according to Vaden, seems to be affecting more students around campus than past years.

Although the definite number of students affected by allergies can only be estimated, this years numbers seem to be higher than in the past.

“Allergies are always one of our top 20 diagnoses at Vaden,” said Dr. Robyn Tepper, clinical assistant professor of medicine. “We are running ahead of last year by about 75 diagnoses so far. It is hard to know how many students are suffering from allergies, as most can manage their symptoms without coming in for a visit.”

According to Vaden, the definition of an allergic reaction is when, “your immune system reacts to a foreign substance (i.e. pollen, bee venom, dust mites or pet dander) that doesn’t cause a reaction in most other people.”

In the spring, common allergens in the area that affect students include mulberry, oak and ash. These plants can be found around campus, so students are often exposed to their pollen. Some of the most common reactions to these allergens include sneezing, nasal congestion, itchy or watery eyes and coughing.

Students around campus have been feeling the effects of these various pollens. Many state that their allergy symptoms can even hinder them from performing their best in class.

“My allergies provide overall discomfort and also interfere with my schoolwork,” said Albert Gianatan ’18. “When I have itchy eyes, it really takes my concentration off what I’m reading or whatever I happen to be doing at the moment.”

Allergy season this year seems to have started earlier than past years, which could potentially be attributed to the current drought affecting the area.

“My sense is that this allergy season has hit a little bit earlier,” said Jacob Dalder ’15, Peer Health Educator at Otero. “I think because we’ve had a particularly dry winter, that has in some ways brought the spring and all the allergens associated with spring earlier.”

There are many measures that students can take to limit their exposure to allergens throughout the day.

“When the pollen count is high and especially on dry windy days, stay indoors as much as possible,” Tepper said. “Take a shower, wash your hair and remove the clothes you wore all day when you come in for the night to discontinue your exposure to allergens.”

In addition, over-the-counter medication is available to students whose allergies are interfering with everyday life and activities. The common medications that Vaden recommends include non-sedating antihistamines, such as fexofenadine, loratadine and cetirizine, and nasal steroids.

However, students should always be informed about the medications they are taking.

“With all medications, there are potential side effects and it is important to be aware of these and carefully follow the directions,” Tepper said.

Many allergy medications are most effective when taken before being exposed to irritants.

“Try to take the medication before symptoms are bothering you,” Dalder said. “If there’s a baseline dose that people can take, that they’ve figured out works for them, that can help a lot with the aggravation. But you can take it after the fact of course, too.”

Allergy season usually ends in mid-May.

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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Stanford celebrates Autism Awareness Day https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/05/stanford-celebrates-autism-awareness-day/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/05/stanford-celebrates-autism-awareness-day/#respond Mon, 06 Apr 2015 04:36:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1098297 In celebration of Autism Awareness Day, Autism Speaks U Stanford hosted a series of events throughout the day Thursday to allow the student body to show support for individuals around the world affected by autism and their families.

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(RAHIM ULLAH/The Stanford Daily)
Starting Thursday, Hoover Tower will shine blue for a week in honor of Autism Awareness Day. (RAHIM ULLAH/The Stanford Daily)

In celebration of Autism Awareness Day, Autism Speaks U Stanford hosted a series of events throughout the day on Thursday to allow the student body to show support for individuals around the world affected by autism and their families.

According to Autism Speaks U Stanford’s president Spencer Savitz ’17, Autism Speaks U Stanford is a new student organization seeking to spread awareness of autism spectrum disorders and raise funds for Autism Speaks, the world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization.

On Thursday, the Wilbur, Stern and Florence Moore dining halls were decorated blue and served blue dessert, since blue is the official color of autism awareness. In addition, there were trivia games and autism-related prizes at White Plaza and at Arrillaga Dining.

Every year Autism Speaks organizes the worldwide Light It Up Blue campaign in which approximately 10,000 buildings across all seven continents will be lit blue. Autism Speaks U Stanford is participating by lighting up the four corners lights of Hoover Tower blue for two weeks, starting last Thursday night.

“Our hope from all of these events is to make students more aware of autism, to educate everyone a little bit about the Autism Spectrum and to introduce everyone to our chapter,” Savitz said. “We want to provide everyone with the environment and resources to feel comfortable talking about autism, a topic that is very rarely heard about on Stanford’s campus, even though one in every 68 children born today is diagnosed.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the lights would be on for only one week, not two. We apologize for this error.

 

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

 

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Cardinal Nights in competition for Best National Campus Program https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/04/cardinal-nights-in-competition-for-best-national-campus-program/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/04/cardinal-nights-in-competition-for-best-national-campus-program/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2015 05:17:59 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097001 Cardinal Nights, Stanford’s organization for coordinating non-alcoholic events around campus, was nominated for Campus Activities Magazine’s Best National Campus Program Board. This magazine highlights the most successful activities happening on college campuses around the country.

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Cardinal Nights, Stanford’s organization for coordinating non-alcoholic events around campus, was nominated for Campus Activities Magazine’s Best National Campus Program Board. This magazine highlights the most successful activities happening on college campuses around the country.

The award of Best National Campus Program Board commemorates the best-coordinated activities programs on different university campuses. This year, four other campus programs were nominated. Voting for the award closed on March 1, and results are set to be released sometime in early April.

Organizers of Cardinal Nights were thrilled to be recognized by this nomination and state that it marks a huge step for the fairly young program.

“We are very excited and humbled to be nominated for a national award,” said Ralph Castro, Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education, which oversees Cardinal Nights, in a written statement to The Daily. “We have put a ton of hard work and commitment into making Cardinal Nights a popular program. And being recognized on a national stage is amazing, given that Cardinal Nights is only three years old.”

Castro said that what makes Cardinal Nights unique as an organization is that it started out as a way to provide fun and engaging social events that were non-alcoholic to students across campus. In the past few years, it has organized events such as Cosmic Bowling, a trip to see the musical “Chicago” and Winter Craft Night. It has also helped sponsor events such as Rhythms, Party on the Edge and Sam Tsui.

Over the years, Cardinal Nights has hosted around 170 events with over 26,000 attendees.

In general, students seem to be pleased with the quality of activities presented by Cardinal Nights and have expressed appreciation for the wide audience appeal of the events.

In addition to organizing alcohol-free events, Cardinal Nights also helps fund or co-sponsor events with student groups around campus. Students can apply for a mini-grant to partner with Cardinal Nights to host an event.

“I think Cardinal Nights is one of those fun-giving organizations the school has for students,” said NiuNiu Teo ’16. “I see it as more part of a larger infrastructure of financial support for student groups that’s really great at Stanford. I think its a great way for students to throw events for each other.”

Castro said that Cardinal Nights hopes to continue its inclusive presence on campus and provide a welcoming environment for all students.


Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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SLE students respond to new humanities dorm https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/13/sle-students-respond-to-new-humanities-dorm/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/02/13/sle-students-respond-to-new-humanities-dorm/#respond Fri, 13 Feb 2015 09:27:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1095600 Despite some mixed reviews, the new humanities-themed dorm set to open next fall has received generally positive feedback from members of the Structural Liberal Education (SLE) community.

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Despite some mixed reviews, the new humanities-themed dorm set to open next fall has received generally positive feedback from members of the Structural Liberal Education (SLE) community. The residence is meant to attract students across campus who are interested in the humanities.

The humanities dorm is designed to be a space for students interested in the humanities to live and learn together. In addition, the advisory committee, which decides the logistics behind the dorm, hopes the dorm can offer opportunities for the whole campus to attend, including guest lectures and writing workshops.

According to Jeff Schwegman, Humanities & Arts Initiatives Coordinator, the idea of a humanities dorm had its roots in the success of the SLE program.

“In any strong academic program,” Schwegman said. “There’s also a social and community aspect to them that really make them take off. I think this is why SLE, for example, had so much success, these students really get to know each other, and they bond over their interests.”

However, Schwegman emphasized that the humanities dorm is not intended to act as a residential education program. Instead, it is meant to serve as a catalyst, where students can find a diverse community of members with similar interests in the humanities.

In addition, Schwegman mentions that the humanities dorm is not only a place where past members of SLE can find a similar atmosphere, but also a place where students passionate about the humanities can gather and share their interests.

“The people coming out of SLE and ITALIC and SIMILE will be an obvious target for this dorm,” Schwegman said. “But with that said, it’s by no means the full aim of it… we also hope to appeal to students who, for example, are engineering majors and also have an interest in the humanities.”

Still, many of the current SLE members look forward to what new humanities dorm entails, and some are considering living there in the future years.

SinClair Cook ’18, who is considering majoring in Symbolic Systems, explained that the community was something he appreciated in the SLE program and that he would consider joining the humanities dorm for the same friendly and intellectual atmosphere.

“The reason I joined SLE was to gain a foundation in the humanities,” Cook said. “So even if I don’t major in the humanities in the future, living in the humanities dorm will allow me to continue having that foundation.”

In addition, SLE students are happy to see that the University is putting more effort into bringing more visibility to the humanities programs.

“I’m definitely thinking about joining the humanities dorm next year,” said Victor Liu ’18. “I think it’s a conscious effort on the part of Stanford in increasing awareness and arts.”

However, some members of the SLE community have also shown pushback against the new humanities dorm. Some students view the initiative as the University’s attempt to accommodate to humanities students.

“Once again the University is trying to make itself more appealing to people who are interested in the humanities, so it implies that there’s a hidden agenda to the new dorm,” said Nicole Wong ’18. “But I also do feel that the University is trying to create a better environment for humanities people, so it’s a double-edged sword for me.”

Other students explained that they are hesitant to immerse themselves in an environment with only humanities students and hope to search for a more diverse atmosphere after SLE.

Still, Schwegman emphasized that the humanities dorm is not meant to be a “humanities ghetto” but rather a diverse environment for humanities discussion.

 

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3@stanford.edu.

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Nonprofit seeks to make volunteering more accessible https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/29/nonprofit-seeks-to-make-volunteering-more-accessible/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/29/nonprofit-seeks-to-make-volunteering-more-accessible/#respond Fri, 30 Jan 2015 04:25:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1094524 YCore, a nonprofit organization seeking to reinvent volunteering for the millennial generation, hosted its launch party on Tuesday in which sponsors, partners and non-profit leaders came together to share their vision for YCore.

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YCore, a nonprofit organization seeking to reinvent volunteering for the millennial generation, hosted its launch party on Tuesday in which sponsors, partners and non-profit leaders came together to share their vision for YCore.

The event opened with a welcome by Kim Meredith, executive director of Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), who detailed the social and economical importance of volunteering for the millennial generation.

“These millennials are participating [in volunteering] in ways higher than just about anyone,” Meredith said. “They are not waiting till they are 50 or along in their journey — they’re starting early, and asking questions about impact, and ‘how can I make a difference?’”

Olivia Bryant ’15, co-founder of YCore, presented a brief overview of the values and purpose behind YCore. According to Bryant, YCore’s mission is to create a network of young philanthropists interested in making lasting change in their community.

“For many of us, upon graduation we face a dilemma,” Bryant said, “which is whether we want to go into the social sector or into the private sector, and many of us choose the private sector. Still, we have this grand aspiration to continue volunteering alongside our jobs.”

YCore’s aim is to make non-profit work accessible and appealing for young individuals who do not want to forfeit volunteering in favor of their jobs.

“We’re giving volunteering a facelift,” Bryant said.

Along with Vivian Shen ’14, co-founder of YCore, Bryant has created a program that matches millennials with non-profit organizations according to their skills. Sixteen partners are chosen for each six-month program and work closely with these organizations to form their own projects.

“We just really took off running this quarter,” said Baffour Kyetematen ’15, one of the partners working for the Ableworks project. “So far it’s been a great experience, working with people who are likeminded to contribute to something so much greater than yourself, and you leave with this feeling of satisfaction everyday.”

Members of each non-profit were present at the event and spoke out about their goals and reasons for teaming up with YCore. The current non-profit partners are: The Art of Yoga, a nonprofit working to rehabilitate girls in the juvenile system through art and yoga; Ableworks, an organization looking to provide financial literacy and life skills to in-need populations; Suja Elements, a juice company donating a share of its profits to non-profit organizations and WePack, a non-profit creating sustainable solutions for pressing social issues.

Approximately 40 people were at the event.

 

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine hosts panel discussion on divestment https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/22/stanford-out-of-occupied-palestine-hosts-panel-discussion-on-divestment/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/01/22/stanford-out-of-occupied-palestine-hosts-panel-discussion-on-divestment/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:00:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1094245 On Wednesday, the Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) coalition coordinated a panel of 11 student groups, members of which spoke out about their reasons for supporting the petition for Stanford’s divestment from corporations that allegedly facilitate human rights violations in the occupied Israel-Palestine territories.

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On Wednesday, the Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) coalition coordinated a panel of 11 student groups, members of which spoke out about their reasons for supporting the petition for Stanford’s divestment from corporations that allegedly facilitate human rights violations in the occupied Israel-Palestine territories.

According to Cole Manley ’14, one of the event coordinators, the purpose of the event was to highlight the intersectionality of support behind SOOP between student groups around campus. Another goal was to raise awareness about Palestinian civil society’s call for divestment and to educate the student body about events happening in occupied territories.

“Student groups as diverse as NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and MEchA de Stanford have all voted to endorse SOOP,” Manley said. “We really wanted to showcase and highlight the diverse reasons and intersections as to why they’ve done so.”

Some of the groups represented in the panel were the Black Student Union (BSU), Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC), Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Stanford Students for Queer Liberation (SSQL), Student and Labor Alliance (SALA), Students for Alternatives to Militarism (SAM) and Pilipino American Student Union (PASU).

The speakers said that even though the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was occurring six thousand miles away, their groups all had similar struggles, and their causes suffered from companies who were also allegedly committing human rights violations in occupied Palestinian territories.

Jessica Reed ’15, representative for the BSU, shared how Combined Tactical Systems, a corporation supplying crowd-dispersal munitions for use against Palestinians, has been producing tear gas that is allegedly used against non-violent black protesters in the United States responding to the events in Ferguson, Missouri.

“These struggles, although they aren’t the same, do have connections to each other,” Reed said.

Katherine Nasol ’15, PASU representative, said that the company Veolia has been contributing to human rights infringements in both Palestine and the Philippines.

“We have found many common themes between Filipino struggles with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.” Nasol said. “[Veolia] directly fuels our Marguerite shuttles everyday, but at the same time they have been connected to illegal Israeli settlements, and this company is also privatizing the water system in the Philippines.”

Approximately 50 students attended the event.

“I’m here just to inform myself,” said Andrew Vasquez ’16. “I see a lot of intersectionality between the black lives matter movement, and that is a movement that I’ve been personally involved in. So for me it makes sense to also pay attention to other groups of oppressed people.”

This panel was a part of six weeks of events that SOOP has planned on campus.

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu

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Psych students help produce play production ‘Proof’ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/17/psych-students-help-produce-play-production-proof/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/11/17/psych-students-help-produce-play-production-proof/#respond Mon, 17 Nov 2014 09:54:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1092191 As part of their curriculum, students in Psych 1: Introduction to Psychology attended a production David Auburn’s “Proof” over the weekend in order to experience real world examples of the material being taught in class. “Proof” is typically presented as a dramatic reading to the class, however, this year, the class partnered with Noemi Ola […]

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As part of their curriculum, students in Psych 1: Introduction to Psychology attended a production David Auburn’s “Proof” over the weekend in order to experience real world examples of the material being taught in class.

“Proof” is typically presented as a dramatic reading to the class, however, this year, the class partnered with Noemi Ola Berkowitz ’16, a former Psych 1 student, to produce and sponsor the “Proof” as a theater production.

“There are a lot of the same ideas you can get from a reading of the full script and a full production,” Hard said. “But the whole production just adds a level of reality to the play, that I think is harder to get from just a reading. The cast completely inhabiting the characters was just so much more powerful.”

As part of their curriculum, students in Psych 1: Introduction to Psychology this year, the class partnered with Noemi Ola Berkowitz ’16, a former Psych 1 student, to produce and sponsor the "Proof" as a theater production. (Courtesy of Frank Chen)
As part of their curriculum, students in Psych 1: Introduction to Psychology this year, the class partnered with Noemi Ola Berkowitz ’16, a former Psych 1 student, to produce and sponsor the “Proof” as a theater production.
(Courtesy of Frank Chen)

“Proof” was first introduced to the Psych 1 curriculum in 2009 by David Goldman, a member of the National Center for New Plays at Stanford. Goldman was interested in producing plays for classes as a way to complement their curriculum. Since then, “Proof” has been an essential part of the curriculum, as it presents students with a different, visual approach to the concepts taught in psychology.

“We definitely see the field of psychology as one that really relates to what we consider as the hard sciences,” said Bridgette Hard, Psych 1 program coordinator. “But also to the arts and humanities, because there are so many interesting questions about human behavior, and human thinking that are explored in productions, and movies. It’s a different way for students to explore some of the different questions that are being presented in our class and an opportunity to build that bridge for students in psychology to the humanities.”

The play follows the story of Catherine, a 25 year old dealing with hallucinations and grief, as she copes with the death of her mentally ill father and struggles in her relationships with her sister, Claire and her father’s past graduate student, Hal. It highlights the reality of mental illness and the effects it has on both the patient and those close to him or her, and explores the question of what constitutes a mental illness.

On Friday, the students started their study of clinical psychology and were able to apply material taught in the class to the human dynamics on stage.

“In psychology, it’s so easy to talk about like ‘this is what happens when you have a mental disorder’ and ‘this is what people are like,’” said Chelsey Pan ’18, a current student. “But I think it’s a very different sort of animal to see something like a production, where you get to see how the things we learn in psychology really play out in human beings.”

“Throughout the production, as interactions on stage were happening, I was pointing out points we went through lecture today about mental disorders and abnormalities,” said Treyvion Foster ’17.

In the future, the coordinators of Psych 1 hope to incorporate other forms of art and theatre into the curriculum. They also encourage other departments to consider partnering with the arts to enhance class material.

“We are very open to partnering with students who want to produce great theater that connects to what we’re doing in psychology,” Hard said. “And I’m sure that other departments would feel similar if there are plays people want to produce that would connect to class. There’s a lot of room for there to be collaboration between the art and other departments here on campus.”

Noemi Berkowitz is a Daily staffer.

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Student play honors 25th anniversary of the 1989 takeover https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/26/student-play-honors-25th-anniversary-of-the-1989-takeover/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/26/student-play-honors-25th-anniversary-of-the-1989-takeover/#respond Mon, 27 Oct 2014 02:30:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1090631 Students and alumni presented “25 Years: Honoring Student Activism and the Legacy of the 1989 Takeover” on Thursday, an event to commemorate the student activism that promoted multicultural integration. Organizers also hoped to inspire students to think about what it means to take over their education today.

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RAHIM ULLAH/The Stanford Daily
Alumni Cheryl Taylor ’90, Gina Hernandeze-Clarke ’89, Richard Suh ’90, and William McCabe ’89 answered questions regarding their reflections on the takeover and advice for current students.

Students and alumni presented “25 Years: Honoring Student Activism and the Legacy of the 1989 Takeover” on Thursday, an event to commemorate the student activism that led to the promotion of multicultural integration on campus. Organizers also hoped to inspire students to think about what it means to take over their education today.

 

History of the takeover

This event celebrated the 1989 takeover, in which 55 students from ethnic groups around campus were arrested after confronting the University’s failure to address racial injustices by storming former Stanford president Donald Kennedy’s office.

“The main purpose of the takeover,” said Jessica Reed ’16, Black Student Union co-president and student performer, “was really trying to create institutional change to go along with the change that was occurring demographically in terms of the students on campus.”

Among other requests, student groups from the Asian American Community Center, Native American Cultural Center and other organizations, demanded that the University expand on current ethnic studies classes, add new ethnic studies programs, increase funding for cultural centers and hire more faculty of color.

 

Event program

The 25th-anniversary commemoration began with a welcome from Jan Barker Alexander, associate dean of student affairs, who addressed how the past can fuel the present.

Following her speech was the student production “Takeover ’89,” directed, written and produced by Ken Savage ’14. The play depicted the motivations behind the takeover, the timeline of events on May 19, 1989, and how current students can respond to these past events.

The event followed with a historic perspective presented by Clay Carson, a history professor during the time of the takeover. Carson reflected on his thoughts towards the legacy of the takeover, in which he stated that “the [takeover] was one of the proudest moments of my life…we were inspired by the students.”

Lastly, students had a chance to interact with alumni who had participated in the ’89 takeover during the panel discussion titled “Panel: Alumni Reflections.” Alumni Richard Suh ’90, Cheryl Taylor ’90, Gina Hernandeze-Clarke ’89 and William McCabe ’89 answered questions regarding their reflections on the takeover and advice for current students.

 

Connecting alumni and current students

Both current students and alumni, many of whom participated in the takeover 25 years ago, attended the affair. Students and alumni were able to reflect on how actions taking place years ago were able to affect the current state of Stanford education.

“We would have no way of anticipating that our actions 25 years ago would have any impact on students today,” Suh said. “It feels really fulfilling; you certainly feel a sense of satisfaction that what you did at one point in time made a big difference.”

“I can’t separate my personal tie to the takeover,” said Hye Jeong Yoon ’14, a student performer in “Take Over ’89.” “All Stanford students benefited, but being a CSRE [Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity] major, I know that I for one would not be the same person if I didn’t make relationships with professors who were hired directly because of this takeover. I am the direct beneficiary of this takeover.”

Among the alumni who attended was Louis Jackson ’91, who was singled out for more serious charges than other students for his actions.

 

Students inspired for action

At the event, students were able to reflect on their own empowerment and voices by learning about what students in their own shoes achieved 25 years ago.

“It’s the past reconnecting with the present. We notice that, yeah, stuff has changed, but there’s also so much more,” Priscilla Agbeo ’18 said. “[Alumni] being here just showed me that the fire is still ablaze, that there’s still more to be done, and it is possible to do something because they’ve gotten that far from where they were.”

In the panel discussion with alumni, moderator Alma Medina ’92 stated, “I was enough, I was enough to make a difference — and other people were also enough, so when you put that together, you can really make a difference.”

One key feature of the student performance was the separation of parts between the performers. Half of the actors portrayed the students who were participating in the takeover and activism 25 years ago, while the other half played current students, responding to these past events.

“The performance portrays history in terms of before and after, but also shows that change is a continuum and how even though the takeover happened in 1989,” Reed said. “Changes have still been happening incrementally since then, but that we still have room to grow in 2014… but just knowing that we stand on the shoulders of giants.”

 

“Self determination for our education”

The theme for the takeover of ’89 was “self determination for our education.” At the event, both students and alumni were challenged to think about what this phrase means for them today.

“This phrase really meant being critical of what you’re being taught and taking control of what you’re being taught and having a say of what you’re being taught,” said Suh.

“To me, self determination for our education means taking ownership of your history. We should be able to learn about it from our lens, not a westernized lens. There’s often a lot of miseducation because it’s in a westernized lens if it’s not in the perspectives that we necessarily would stand for,” Jade Verdeflor ’17 said.

 

Cultural communities coming together

This event was a joint venture between the various culture groups around campus. The participating groups were the Asian American Activities Center, El Centro Chicano y Latino, Black Community Services Center and the Native American Culture Center. This collaboration of cultural groups mirrors the spirit of unity that incited the takeover, in which many student groups came together to create one force.

“In the takeover, I saw the solidarity between the groups,” Verdeflor said. “I guess in my experience in organizing I’m very focused on my personal group, so seeing these different groups coming together was very inspiring.”

Not only did this collaboration to create the event incite meaningful communication, but also highlighted the common goals of different community groups around campus.

“To be able to put this 10-minute piece together that meant so much to all our communities, and whose legacy has affected us today was amazing,” Savage said. “It’s cool to put this script together and to share one another’s history in ways that students were not particularly knowledgeable about.”

 

Mandate for change

This event provided an opportunity for students and alumni to reflect the legacy of the takeover and assess the ways in which the University has kept its promises.

After the takeover, the University instituted a mandate for change that addressed the protesting students’ concerns. They promised to add new ethnic studies programs and expand current ones, increase funding for all cultural centers including full-time needs for each community center, and hiring at least three faculty of color to teach courses about communities in color each year.

“We want to be able to provide the opportunity for the audience to reflect on how the school has been able to fulfill the demands that were stated in that mandate and to just really also think about the current issues that are really taking ground at Stanford,” Reed said.

 

This post has been updated. It previously stated that 55 students participated. In fact, 55 were arrested and nearly 100 participated. It also stated that Louis Jackson was the only student arrested. In fact, he was among many arrested students but was singled out for more serious charges.

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Students participate in social sciences labs for money https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/20/students-participate-in-social-sciences-labs-for-money/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/20/students-participate-in-social-sciences-labs-for-money/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:52:10 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1090102 Students around campus are participating in human research experiments in social science labs, making some extra money and experiencing the research process from the subject side.

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Students around campus are participating in human research experiments in social science labs, making some extra money and experiencing the research process from the subject side.

In labs in the economics department, psychology department and elsewhere, students are asked to perform tasks ranging from building formations with Legos to completing online memory tests. On average, participants are paid eight to 10 dollars an hour.

 

Earning money and experience

Because of the flexible hours and financial incentives, many students are opting to participate in these experiments, and some even consider it a part-time job.

“Many of the tasks and pay vary, but it’s more than you would get if you were just doing a minimum wage job, and you’re doing a lot less work,” said Bella Levaggi ’18. “It’s a good way to pay for my cups of coffee.”

The variety and diversity of these studies can motivate the students to participate again.

“For the most part [the studies] are really interesting and they’re always very diverse,” said Bhaven Patel ’16. “I’ve done everything from just eating different M&M’s, to these group studies where I had to build a structure with masking tape and paper.”

The resources around campus also make research participation a unique opportunity that students would not be able to have elsewhere.

“Students who participate in research are awarded so many opportunities that they wouldn’t have had otherwise,” said Chrystal Redekopp, lab manager for the sociology department. “For example, some departments ask participants to come in and participate in virtual reality simulations, and you really cannot do that anywhere else.”

Students also find it rewarding to participate because of the esteemed reputation of the Stanford social science departments, and find it worth their time in order to contribute to the growing knowledge of human behavior.

“I’m not going to lie, being part of a ‘Stanford’ study is kind of cool because you always hear about all the cutting-edge research going on here,” Levaggi added.

Usually, students going into the experiments have no foreknowledge of what the study will be testing, or what they will be asked to do. It is only after they sign-in that they are given their assignment and then observed as they complete it.

“It really amazed me that I couldn’t figure out what the experiment was testing from the questions they were asking, because it just didn’t seem connected at all while I was doing the study,” Patel said. “But in the times that I’ve asked about it afterwards, it made total sense.”

 

Earning credit for participation

In addition to payment, research departments, such as psychology, also give class credit for study participation. In the Psych 1 class, it is required of students to earn at least seven hours of research participation in order to receive credit for the class.

The Psych 1 syllabus states that research participation is important because “[students] will see how concepts [they] learn in class are being used in current research.”

“I got a better sense of how actual experiments work after my experience in the lab and it definitely corresponded to some of the things we’re learning in psych class,” said Annie Graham ’18.

 

Labs benefit from student resources

Many labs rely on human participants to be able to make inquiries and abstractions about the general population, and would not be able to conduct their research without student participation.

“Our science is conducted only by having people in the lab,” said Nicholas Hall, associate director of the Behavioral Lab at the Graduate School of Business. “If we don’t have people in the lab, our research gets held up — it’s slow and all that.”

In general, these labs make it easy for students to sign up for experiments. Students are given a baseline questionnaire to receive information about upcoming experiments, and can sign up for participation times based on their own schedule. If there are conflicts in a student’s’ schedule, he or she can always call to cancel. Last minute cancellations, however, do pose problem for researchers.

“In our lab, we have about 2,000 students in our system, but the number of students who are active is just a fraction of that,” Hall said. “Twenty to 25 percent of the time, students won’t show up after they’ve signed up, and this is problematic for us because people don’t have to come in and we can’t force them.”

To overcome this, labs give students three strikes to cancel and do not let them participate in any more research after that for the rest of the quarter.

Contact Stephanie Zhang at szhang3 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

Update: A previous version of this article gave Chrystal Redekopp’s position as lab director instead of lab manager. This has since been corrected.

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