Faculty Focus

Suzan Edwards, L. Clark Seelye Professor of Astronomy, studies stars that are forming deep within molecular clouds in the galaxy. The gravitational collapse of rotating, denser-than-average "cores" within a molecular cloud results in the creation of a central protostar surrounded by a flattened spinning disk of gaseous material, with dimensions comparable to the solar system. To subscribe to the podcast or listen to the complete audio version of the interview in its entirety, go to the Smith iTunes podcast page here:

Every year Susannah Howe, senior lecturer in engineering, shepherds a group of Smith students through the Design Clinic, a capstone two-semester course in which students collaborate in teams on applied design projects sponsored by industry and government. Listen as Howe, the design clinic director, explains the ways in which students work and the course unfolds each year.

In his new paper, “Narratives on the Ethics of Living Jim Crow” —delivered at Emory University in fall 2016 at the California Roundtable on the Philosophy of Race—Al Mosley, professor of philosophy, uses the analytical roots of the work of contemporary philosophers and writers and his own personal narratives to illustrate how the threat of violence was used to humiliate, subordinate and exploit blacks and the poor in the Jim Crow South.