Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Representations Of Gender In Math-Related Films, Jacob Gathje

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

This project analyzes how four popular math-related films - Hidden Figures, Mean Girls, Good Will Hunting, and A Beautiful Mind - either follow, resist, or reconfigure gender stereotypes in mathematics. It includes close readings of specific scenes in each of the films, along with broader analysis of the effects of how women and men are represented differently. It concludes forward-looking focus, providing suggestions for how future math-related movies can depict a more realistic and inclusive version of the field of mathematics. Ideally, this will help improve one part of the larger issue of gender disparities in math.

A Case For Hope In A Warming World, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Reuter Professorship of Science and Religion Publications

It is difficult to feel hopeful in a rapidly warming world. But hope is not just a feeling. It is an active verb, one that calls for courage, solidarity, a clear vision, and hard work. First, knowing that each fraction of a degree counts, humanity is called not to despair but to use every technology and means, technologies we already have. Second, we can be encouraged by a vision of a new world and society that works for everyone. Third, we can be heartened by nature’s resilience and an evolutionary theology that looks toward the future.

Can Lethal Autonomous Weapons Be Just?, Noreen L. Herzfeld, Robert H. Latiff

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In 2018 the United States Department of Defense (DoD) created a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to study the adoption of AI by the military. Their strategy, outlined in a document entitled, “Harnessing AI to Advance Our Security and Prosperity,” proposes to accelerate the adoption of AI in the military by fostering a culture of experimentation and calculated risk taking, noting that AI will change the character of the future battlefield and, even more, the pace of battle. Is there any way to ensure that this future battlefield will be just? Can the age-old precepts of just warfare help guide …

A Colonized Cop: Indigenous Exclusion And Youth Climate Justice Activism At The United Nations Climate Change Negotiations, Corrie Grosse, Brigid Mark

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Youth activists around the world are demanding urgent climate action from elected leaders. The annual United Nations climate change negotiations, known as COPs, are key sites of global organizing and hope for a comprehensive approach to climate policy. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews at COP25 in 2019, this research examines youth climate activists’ priorities, frustrations and hopes for creating just climate policy. Youth are disillusioned with the COP process and highlight a variety of ways through which the COP perpetuates colonial power structures that marginalize Indigenous peoples and others fighting for justice. This is intersectional exclusion - the …

Implementation Considerations For Mitigating Bias In Supervised Machine Learning, Bardia Bijani Aval

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

Machine Learning (ML) is an important component of computer science and a mainstream way of making sense of large amounts of data. Although the technology is establishing new possibilities in different fields, there are also problems to consider, one of which is bias. Due to the inductive reasoning of ML algorithms in creating mathematical models, the predictions and trends found by the models will never necessarily be true – just more or less probable. Knowing this, it is unreasonable for us to expect the applied deductive reasoning of these models to ever be fully unbiased. Therefore, it is important that …

Megaloads And Mobilization: The Rural People Of Idaho Stand Against Big Oil, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

From 2011 to 2014 fossil fuel corporations trucked tar sands processing machinery along rural Idaho highways. The machinery was bound for the world's largest deposits of tar or oil sands, a heavy crude oil substance called bitumen, located in the western Canadian province of Alberta. These loads of machinery, what became known as megaloads, encountered much resistance. Throughout Idaho and the surrounding region, a network organized opposition. Neighbors, grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and the Nez Perce and other tribes all collaborated. They held information sessions, protested, waged legal battles, monitored the loads, and blockaded highways. What oil companies hoped would be …

Climate Change In Alaskan Native Communities: Lessons Learned In Adaptation And Resilience, Sarah M. Mclarnan

Forum Lectures

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates the average temperature in Alaska has risen by 3°F in the past 60 years, over double the rate of warming in the rest of the nation. Nowhere are the consequences more severe than in rural communities. Rising temperatures have resulted in numerous threatening conditions in Alaskan Native villages such as increased rates of erosion, melting permafrost, flooding, poor air quality, severe storms, and declining access to subsistence resources. These conditions affect not only the health and safety of the community, but also traditional culture and lifestyle. This presentation covers research performed at the EPA …

Liberal Arts Colleges And Art Fairs: The Proximity Of Summer Arts Festivals To Liberal Arts Colleges, Hannah R. Haas

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Purpose: Client Professor James Poff paints and draws on the side of his teaching post in the Biology Department. After finishing his tenure teaching, he would like to spend the summer traveling to art festivals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. He believes that his art will be most widely accepted at art fairs that are within a 25 mile radius of a liberal arts college. He is interested in knowing what summer art festivals those are. Methods: From the websites of the Department of Tourism for Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois I obtained the dates, names and addresses of …

Undergraduate Students' Self-Reported Use Of Mathematics Textbooks, Aaron Weinberg, Emilie Wiesner, Bret Benesh, Timothy Boester

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Textbooks play an important role in undergraduate mathematics courses and have the potential to impact student learning. However, there have been few studies that describe students' textbook use in detail. In this study, 1156 undergraduate students in introductory mathematics classes were surveyed, and asked to describe how they used their textbook. The results indicate that students tend to use examples, instead of the expository text, to build their mathematical understanding, which instructors may view as problematic. This way of using the textbook may be the result of the textbook structure itself, as well as students' beliefs about reading and the …

"Your Cell Will Teach You Everything": Old Wisdom, Modern Science, And The Art Of Attention, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Here is a brief excerpt of the content:

A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him "Father, give me a word." The old man said to him "Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything." ¹ Among the Desert Fathers, Christian monks of the fourth and fifth centuries, it was customary for a novice to go to an elder and ask for "a word," a word of advice, of counsel, a word to take home and reflect on. What does this word of advice say to us today?

A Multitasking World

"Your …

A New Member Of The Family? The Continuum Of Being, Artificial Intelligence, And The Image Of God, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Theology Faculty Publications

Are the scientific and religious definitions of life irreconcilable or do they overlap in significant areas? What is life? Religion seems to imply that there is a qualitative distinction between human beings and the rest of creation; however, there is a strong tradition in Christianity and in Eastern thought that suggests that the natural world also has a relationship with God. Human dominion over other parts of creation exists, but does not obviate this connection, nor give humans a circle unto themselves. The concept of humans being created in the image of God can be used to explain why we …

Undergraduates' Use Of Mathematics Textbooks, Bret Benesh, Tim Boester, Aaron Weinberg, Eimilie Wiesner

Mathematics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Terminator Or Super Mario: Human/Computer Hybrids, Actual And Virtual, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Theology Faculty Publications

Is a human/computer hybrid feasible: If so, in what ways would such hybridization affect our concept of what it means to be human? There are two forms of such hybridization, the actual and the virtual. Actual hybridization involves the implantation of mechanical devices in the human body. In actual hybridization the computer comes to us and to our body to enhance our functioning in our world. In virtual hybridization we go to the computer, projecting our minds into the world of cyberspace and being formed there. Perhaps the most common form of virtual hybridization is the immersion our children experience …

Creating In Our Own Image: Artificial Intelligence And The Image Of God, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Theology Faculty Publications

There is remarkable convergence between twentieth-century interpretations of the image of God (imago Dei), what it means for human beings to be created in God's image, and approaches toward creating in our own image in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Both fields have viewed the intersection between God and humanity or humanity and computers in terms of either (1) a property or set of properties such as intelligence, (2) the functions we engage in or are capable of, or (3) the relationships we establish and maintain. Each of these three approaches reflects a different understanding of what …

A Look At Kabbalah, Scott M. Wellman

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

No abstract provided.

In The Image Of Man: Reflections On Artificial Intelligence, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Theology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.