Effectiveness of the Travelers Summer Research Fellowship Program in Preparing Premedical Students for a Career in Medicine

This study measured the effectiveness of the Travelers Summer Research Fellowship (T-SRF) Program for Premedical Students. No in-depth study has been conducted on the impact of its activities. A program-oriented qualitative summative evaluation approach and a logic model design were used to analyze survey responses for participants from four program years randomly chosen from 2000 to 2015, medical school enrollment records for participants from 1969 to 2015, physician practice locations for participants from 1969 to 2009, and interviews with a purposeful random sample of 10 physicians who were program participants from 2004 to 2008. Narrative inquiry consisted of audio recording, transcription, and analysis of individual accounts and participant experiences. The study revealed that participants valued interactions with physicians from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. Talks on careers in medicine increased participants’ knowledge, and research projects helped develop skills. Cardiovascular physiology lectures introduced participants to the medical school learning experience and increased their confidence to apply to medical school successfully. T-SRF enhanced participants’ medical school applications and sharpened interviewing skills; 83% matriculated into medical school, 90% graduated, and 45% practice in HPSAs, MUAs/Ps, and rural areas. Recommendations included improving program orientation, making the cardiovascular physiology lectures and examinations more valuable experiences, re-evaluating the study skills curriculum, providing more clinical experiences, increasing the weekly stipend, improving maintenance of the alumni database, formally partnering admissions with the T-SRF program, helping alumni return to Weill Cornell as residents or fellows, and considering other ways to measure social concern. Further studies of T-SRF should be undertaken

“Would I Had Him with Me Always”: Affects of Longing in Early Artificial Intelligence

The science of artificial intelligence (AI) is not as unemotional as it might first appear. Not only are researchers in the field now taking an interest in how to program affective capacities into artificial agents; there is also plenty of historical evidence that concerns about affect have been present in AI from the earliest years. Examination of archival materials from the 1940s and 1950s shows that affects (particularly as they circulate between men) have been a significant part of innovation in AI from the beginning. This essay looks at one fragment of that history: the currents of affective and sexual interests in and around Walter Pitts, one of the important, eccentric, and little-written-about founders of AI

Understanding the Global Energy Industry Is Key to Meeting Maine’s Energy Challenge

Dependence on petroleum has global consequences with regard to supply constraints, energy security, and economic impacts, along with major consequences for climate change and other environmental problems. Maine is at a particular disadvantage due to its reliance on home heating oil and transportation fuels in this rural state. In this article, Elizabeth Wilson analyzes the global petroleum industry and the challenges and solutions ahead for the U.S. and Maine as we seek to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and develop other cleaner and cost-effective energy sources

Practical Classroom Strategies for Mainstream Teachers to Use with LEP Studetns

The number of Limited English Proficient (LEP} students in American schools is increasing. School districts, ESL professionals. and mainstream teachers are all being called upon to respond to this cultural and linguistic diversity. Mainstream teachers in particular are experiencing first hand the challenges of working with students for whom English is not the first language. Core subject areas, i.e. mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts, are based on curriculums intended for English speaking students. As such, when students are non- or limited English speaking, they cannot easily participate in English-medium classrooms unless certain modifications and/or accommodations are made to make material more comprehensible to them. Through qualitative research, the purpose of this study was threefold: to discover what knowledge and attitudes mainstream teachers have regarding their LEP students, to learn about their success stories with LEP students, and to combine their teaching strategies with current research into a handbook which can serve as a resource for mainstream teachers. The survey and interview data yielded insight into mainstream teachers\u27 perceptions and practices when working with LEP students. It revealed what steps some teachers are taking to improve their effectiveness with these students. It is the contention of this researcher that much can be learned from one\u27s colleagues, especially for those working under similar circumstances. Thus, the interview data, largely based on actual teachers\u27 own success stories with their LEP students, is significant in that it can help other teachers in their own classrooms. The research which resulted from this study suggests several conclusions and recommendations regarding how mainstream teachers can better serve the needs of their LEP students. It points to the need for cooperation and collaboration between all professionals involved in the education of LEP students, and it also confirms the existence of classroom teaching strategies both in the theoretical and the practical realms. Relevant teaching strategies are continuously being created and used, and this researcher hopes that a non-comprehensive compilation, in the form of a handbook of strategies, will be useful for mainstream teachers

DIPL 4106 International Human Rights

What do we mean when we say that something is a “human right”? Are human rights “given”? By whom or what? If they are inherent in the fact of being human, does this mean they are universal? If they are universal, do they invariably take precedence over conflicting social norms? This course will examine the principle instruments (treaties, declarations, constitutions, national laws) and enforcement mechanisms of human rights. We will read the major treaties and conventions and look at how they are (or are not) being enforced. Students will learn the philosophies underlying contemporary human rights and their roots in the Western liberal tradition and the different theoretical and practical issues related to the study and advocacy of human rights. Students will also examine the major controversies about human rights discourse, including its supposed ethnocentrism. Students should leave the course with an understanding of the importance of human rights in the modern world and of the complexities and contradictions that surround the idea of human rights

DIPL 3851/CORE 3851 Religion, Law, War

This course will examine wars of religion and religious views of war, focusing particularly on how religion has informed the international laws of war. We are living through an era fraught with religious warfare - wars animated by religious conflict and wars that use religious abuse as weapons to demoralize and subdue the enemy. The course will focus on three major religious traditions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and set in dialogue their respective views of war, assess their contributions to the contemporary laws of war, and examine particular historical episodes of religious conflict - as well as contrary episodes of religious toleration