Professor of Psychology

Scientific Foundations of Zoos and Aquariums (Co-editor and co-author)

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Examining the ‘cosmetics placebo effect’

Previous studies have found a positive effect of cosmetics on certain behavioral measures, such as the tip given to waitresses by male patrons. These studies have employed confederates who usually wear cosmetics. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect found in these studies could, in part, be explained by a change in behavior. In order to test the possibility of a ‘cosmetics placebo effect’, we employed a confederate to solicit donations from passersby. On some days our confederate would not have any cosmetics applied to her face (i.e., no cosmetics condition), on some days cosmetics were pretended to be applied to her face (i.e., placebo cosmetics condition), and on other days cosmetics were actually applied to her face (i.e., cosmetics condition).

PLoS One - link to article 🔓

Pathogen disgust sensitivity changes according to the perceived harshness of the environment

Much research has explored behaviours that are linked with disgust sensitivity. Few studies, however, have been devoted to understanding how fixed or variable disgust sensitivity is. We therefore aimed to examine whether disgust sensitivity can change with the environment by repeatedly testing students whose environment was not changing as well as student cadets undergoing intensive training at an army camp.

Featured in the academic minute.

Cognition and Emotion - link to article

Cosmetics increase skin evenness: Evidence from perceptual and physical measures

Cosmetics are commonly attributed with increasing skin evenness, yet little published data characterizes the effect, either perceptually or physically. We therefore investigated whether makeup increases skin evenness using a perceptual measurement and two physical measurements of color and luminance homogeneity.

Skin Research & Technology - link to article

Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation

Patterns of mate choice consequently have power to direct the course of evolution. Here we provide evidence suggesting one pattern of human mate choice—the tendency for mates to be similar in overall desirability—caused the evolution of a structure of correlations.

Evolution and Human Behavior - link to article

Fear of Violence among Colombian Women Is Associated with Reduced Preferences for High-BMI Men

Recent studies reveal that violence significantly contributes to explaining individual’s facial preferences. Women who feel at higher risk of violence prefer less-masculine male faces. Given the importance of violence, we explore its influence on people’s preferences for a different physical trait: body mass index (BMI).

Human Nature - link to article 🔓

Sexual Infidelity Versus Emotional Infidelity

Both men and women exhibit negative emotions over both sexual and emotional infidelity. However, research has found that men and women exhibit different levels of distress depending on whether the infidelity is sexual or emotional.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science - link to encyclopedia entry 🔓

Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world.

Scientific Reports (Nature Research) - link to article 🔓

A Role for Contrast Gain Control in Skin Appearance

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies

Governing the Rainforest: Sustainable Development Politics in the Brazilian Amazon

Governing the Rainforest looks at development and conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon, where the government and corporate interests bump up against those of environmentalists and local populations. This book asks why sustainable development continues to be such a powerful and influential idea in the region, and what impact it has had on various political and economic interests and geographic areas. It argues that sustainable development politics yield imbalances that prioritize economic over environmental goals, perpetuating and reinforcing economic and political inequalities.

Oxford University Press - link to book

From Urban Resilience to Abolitionist Climate Justice in Washington, DC

Associate Professor of Psychology

Function is not the sum of an object’s parts

Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Bringing Nuance to Automated Exam and Classroom Response System Grading: A Tool for Rapid, Flexible, and Scalable Partial-Credit Scoring

Professor of Mathematics

Perspective and Projective Geometry

Through a unique approach combining art and mathematics, Perspective and Projective Geometry introduces readers to the ways that projective geometry applies to perspective art. Geometry, like mathematics as a whole, offers a useful and meaningful lens for understanding the visual world. Exploring pencil-and-paper drawings, photographs, Renaissance paintings, and GeoGebra constructions, this book equips students with the geometric tools for projecting a three-dimensional scene onto two dimensions.

NSF TUES Grant DUE-1140135

Princeton University Press - link to book

Factoring a Homography to Analyze Projective Distortion

There's a kind of function called a "homography". We show that this type of function is actually the same as a perspective function, moved around and maybe re-sized.

Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision, Vol. 61, Issue 7, p. 967-989 - link to journal article

An (Isometric) Perspective on Homographies

We provide a measure that gives information about the distortion of images created with perspective maps; this measure, for example, distinguishes between Trompe L'oeil and anamorphic art.

Journal for Geometry and Graphics, Vol. 23, Issue 1, p. 65-83 - link to journal article

Looking Through the Glass

Professor of Astronomy

Eight Millisecond Pulsars Discovered in the Arecibo PALFA Survey

This paper reports on the discovery and study of eight radio pulsars with very short spin periods. These types of pulsars are called millisecond pulsars. The set of pulsars reported here has been used to help constrain the Galactic population of such objects.

This work was funded in part by National Science Foundation award number 1430284.

Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 886, Issue 2, p. 148 - link to journal article

Mass Measurements for Two Binary Pulsars Discovered in the PALFA Survey

This paper describes pulsar timing measurements taken to determine the mass of two different radio pulsars discovered in the PALFA pulsar survey. The masses of the pulsars indicate that these objects had unexpected formation mechanisms and evolution history.

This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation award 1430284.

Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 881, Issue 2, p. 165 - link to journal article

Characterization of Electromagnetic Properties of In Situ Soils for the Design of Landmine Detection Sensors: Application in Donbass, Ukraine

This paper described an evaluation of the effectiveness of ground penetrating radar to detect buried landmines in the Donbass conflict zone of Ukraine. Specifically, the radar signals were characterized in the different realistic soil conditions of the region.

Faculty Co-Authors: Tim Bechtel

This work was supported in part by funding from the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.

Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p. 1232 - link to journal article 🔓

B 121102 Bursts Show Complex Time-Frequency Structure

This paper discusses an in-depth study of radio pulses coming from the first known repeating "fast radio burst" (FRB). FRBs are a class of very distant objects that emit enormous amounts of radio emission in a very short time (milliseconds). They were first discovered unexpectedly only 13 years ago, and yet their physical origin still remains elusive.

This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation award number 1430284.

Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 876, Issue 2, p. L23 - link to journal article

The NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set: Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

This paper reports on upper limits on gravitational wave signals from supermassive black hole binary systems. The signals were searched for in a data set acquired from eleven years of precision pulsar timing of an array of millisecond pulsars.

This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation award 1430284.

Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 880, Issue 2, p. 116 - link to article

Machine Vision for Obstacle Avoidance, Tripwire Detection, and Subsurface Radar Image Correction on a Robotic Vehicle for the Detection and Discrimination of Landmines

This presentation describes efforts to use a camera to help a landmine detecting robot navigate minefields, detect possible tripwires in the vicinity, and to help correct radar signals that penetrate the uneven ground under the robot.

FPS Co-Author: T. Bechtel

Student Co-Authors: J. Sinton, G. Sallai, A. Kuske

This work was supported in part by NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme project G5014

Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Rome, Italy, Summer 2019 - link to abstract

Background Removal for the Processing of Scans Acquired with the UGO 1st Landmine Detection Platform

This paper presents efforts to reduce interfering effects that prevent reliable automated detection of buried targets (e.g., landmines) with a ground penetrating radar that is mounted on a robotic platform.

FPS Co-Author: Tim Bechtel

This work was sponsored by NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme G5014

Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Rome, Italy, Summer 2019 - link to abstract

The NANOGrav STARS Program at Franklin and Marshall College

This describes the NANOStars team-based research and education program at F&M which introduces students to pulsar and gravitational wave research at an early stage of their careers.

Student Co-Authors: M. F. Alam & V. Bonidie

233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, WA, January 2019

Unidentified FRBs in Archival Data

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies

The once and future treaty: Towards a new regime for biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

An analysis of the first of four inter-governmental conferences at the UN, negotiating a new treaty on the conservation and sustainable management of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (i.e. the high seas and seabed).

Supported by funding from the Office of College Grants and Dean's Office, and EU grants held by co-author R. Tiller.

Marine Policy, Vol. 99, p. 239-242 - link to journal article

Protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction: An earth system governance perspective.

Draws on the scholarship of the Earth System Governance approach in political science, to provide recommendations for the ongoing process to negotiate a new treaty addressing the conservation and sustainable management of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Points to the politicization of science, institutional fragmentation, and the need for a new treaty to be flexible enough to handle the myriad threats that face the oceans in the 21st century.

This paper resulted from panels and discussions organized by members of the Earth System Governance Oceans Taskforce at the International Studies Association 2018 annual conference.

Funded in part by the F&M Office of College Grants

Earth System Governance, Vol. 2 - link to journal article 🔓

A soft treaty, hard to reach: The second inter-governmental conference for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

An analysis of the second of four inter-governmental conferences at the UN, negotiating a new treaty on the conservation and sustainable management of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (i.e. the high seas and seabed).

Funding from F&M Office of College Grants, Horizon 2020 project (European Union project) GoJelly, project number 774499 and the Research Council of Norway with project Regimes, project number 257628.

Marine Policy, Vol. 108 - link to journal article

Marine Protected Areas

Annotated bibliography on Marine Protected Areas, introducing the topic, outlining key themes, and describing readings ranging from books to journals to relevant websites.

Oxford Bibliographies in Environmental Science, Oxford University Press - link to bibliography

Book Review: The Future of Ocean Governance and Capacity Development

Review of a collection of over eighty essays to celebrate the contributions of Elizabeth Mann Borgese to ocean governance on the centenary of her birth. The volume celebrates her legacy while reflecting on the contributions of the International Oceans Institute, which she founded, and providing insights about the field of ocean governance and where it is heading in the 21st century.

Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science - Link to Book Review

Goal setting as marine governance strategy – how agenda-setting theory explains the case of Large Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs) in Brazil.

Dr. E. Paul & Frances H. Reiff Professor of Geosciences

andrew de wet

Professor of Geosciences

Pliocene short-term climate changes preserved in continental shallow lacustrine-palustrine carbonates: Western Opache Formation, Atacama Desert, Chile

Professor of Chemistry

Paired Spectroscopic and Crystallographic Studies of Proteases

Enzyme inhibitors that contained a nitrile group were used to study the active site of two protease enzymes. IR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography were used in this study.

Faculty Co-Authors: Kenneth R. Hess, Christine M. Phillips-Piro, Scott H. Brewer

Student Co-Authors: Meiqi (Maggie) Luo, Christopher N. Eaton

This work was supported by F&M Fred A. Snavely Award funds to ML, Hackman and Leser funds to CNE, Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (TH-15-009) to SHB, and NIH (2R15GM093330) to SHB/EEF.

Chemistry Select, Vol. 4, 9836-9843 - link to journal article 🔓

Tuning Molecular Vibrational Energy Flow within an Aromatic Scaffold via Anharmonic Coupling

Associate Professor of Biology

The onset of embryo maturation in Arabidopsis is determined by its developmental stage and does not depend on endosperm cellularization

An exploration of the mechanisms that regulate the onset of the filling of the seed with nutrients. We discovered it is mainly controlled by each individual seed and the developmental stage of the embryo.

Student Co-Authors: John O'Neill, Kristen Colon

Funded by an NIH R15 grant

The Plant Journal, Vol. 99, p. 286-301 - link to article

Keynote: The regulation of embryo patterning and maturation in Arabidopsis

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Sex and Hormonal Status Influence the Persistence of Addiction in Animal Models

Dana Professor in the Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of Psychology

A competitive drive? Same‐sex attentional preferences in capuchins

The is the first investigation of visual attention for same or opposite-sex individuals in capuchins. Using non-invasive eye tracking, we found that both sexes prefer to look at photos of same sex individuals.

Student Co-Author: Lindsey Engelbert '18

FPS Co-Author: Lauren Howard

Support from the Hackman Summer Scholars Fund

American Journal of Primatology - link to article

Sources of variation in weaned age among wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Harry W. & Mary B. Huffnagle Professor of Geosciences

Legacy sediment erosion hot spots: A cost-effective approach for targeting water quality improvement

Professor of Geosciences

Spectral reflectance properties of magnetites: implications for remote sensing

Magetite [(Fe+2)(Fe+3)2O4] is a common oxide mineral found on a number of planetary bodies. Identifying this mineral from spectral data gathered via orbiting satellites is summarized.

Icarus, Vol. 319, p. 525-539 - link to article

A simulated rover exploration of a Mars analogue site: Gypsumville / Lake St. Martin, Manitoba, Canada

Finding a suitable site that is similar to the surface of Mars to test the suitability and reliability of analytical equipment is a challenge. It proved to be unexpectedly challenging.

50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019, Huston, TX, March 2019 - link to article 🔓

Age and context of mid-Pliocene hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology

Movement and diel habitat use of juvenile Neosho Smallmouth Bass in an Ozark stream

Professor of Chemistry

Origins of POGIL: Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning

Assistant Professor of Biology & Public Health

Professionals’ Perceptions: “Why is Lead Poisoning Prevalent in Lancaster County?”

Professor of Psychology

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Dignity and Human Rights (Co-editor and co-author)

Assistant Professor of Psychology & Scientific and Philosophical Studies of Mind

Specks of dirt and tons of pain: Dosage distinguishes impurity from harm

Judgments of "impure" moral transgressions (e.g., deviant sexual acts; sacrilege) are less influenced by variations in magnitude and frequency than judgments of harmful moral transgressions (e.g., violence, maltreatment). For example, punching a sibling 10 times is judged to be worse than punching a sibling once, but committing incest 10 times is judged to be just as immoral as committing incest once.

Psychological Science, Vol. 30, Issue 8, p. 1151-1160 - link to article

How information about perpetrators’ nature and nurture influences assessments of their character, mental states, and deserved punishment

Evidence of perpetrators’ biological or situational circumstances has been increasingly brought to bear in courtrooms. However, we found consistent evidence that negative genetic and environmental backgrounds influenced participants’ evaluations of perpetrators’ intentions, free will, and character, but did not influence participants’ punishment decisions.

Student Co-Author: Julianna Lynch '19

PLoS One, Vol. 14, Issue 10, p. e0224093 - link to article 🔓

The space between rationalism and sentimentalism: A perspective from moral development

This commentary reviews research in developmental psychology indicating that the mechanisms underlying moral intuitions are not always rational in nature.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 42, p. e165 - link to article

Developing disgust: Theory, measurement, and application

This chapter reviews the current scientific knowledge about the development of disgust during childhood.

Student Co-Author: Heather Greenebaum '18

Handbook of Emotional Development, p. 283-309 - link to chapter

Which appraisals are foundational to moral judgment? Harm, injustice, and beyond

Associate Professor of Psychology

The regulation of negative and positive affect in response to daily stressors

We used daily diary methods in a sample of adults to examine how people choose to regulate their emotions in response to daily stressors, and to further examine the relationship between specific emotion regulation strategies and both positive and negative affect (i.e., emotions). Results indicated that individuals tended to use a variety of different strategies in response to stress, however, many of the strategies deployed did not have the intended effect of changing emotional states.

FPS Co-Author: David Ciuk

Student Co-Authors: Shadman Saquib and Jennifer Thal

Funded by a faculty research grant from the Committee on Grants at F&M

Emotion, Vol. 19, Issue 5, p. 751-763 - link to article

Reappraisal reconsidered: A closer look at the costs of an acclaimed emotion regulation strategy

Professor of Chemistry

Transfer Hydrogenation in the Solid Phase to Nitroalkenes by a Hantzsch Amide

Professor of Geosciences

Legacy sediment erosion hot spots: A cost-effective approach for targeting water quality improvements

Professor of Environmental Science

Widespread global peatland establishment and persistence over the last 130,000 years.

Charles A. Dana Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus

A-type carbonate in strontium apatites

The apatite family of minerals contains many species of interest; for example, the calcium and strontium apatites are both used in the repair of bone and teeth, while the lead apatite is used to remediate lead spills. This paper shows that carbonated strontium apatites contain four different types of carbonate ions. The greater number of the carbonate ions relative to the calcium analog is likely due to the larger strontium ion, which produces larger structural channels.

Student Co-authors: Melissa Bollmeyer '18 and Molly Carney '17

American Mineralogist, Vol. 104, Iss. 3, p. 438-446 - link to article

The effect of incorporated carbonate and sodium on the IR spectra of A- and AB-type carbonated apatites