DSSRF 2019 Cohort: (from left to right): Morgan McMullen, Meredith Newman, Cassandra Brown, Yanyu (Lily) Li, Aung Pyae Phyo
Learn more about the members of the 2019 cohort by reading their biographies and digital humanities values statement below.
Cassandra Brown '22
Cassandra Brown is a neuroscience major graduating in the class of 2022. Her project will focus on raising awareness of the relationship between ecological and human health. She will also be looking at the relationship between past, present, and reemerging diseases and their significance to particular locations. Through the Digital Research Fellowship she will explore zoonotic diseases ranging from non-pandemic potential to high pandemic potential through a variety of visual and online tools.
Final Project: Zoonotic Diseases in Latin America
Yanyu (Lily) Li ’21
My Chinese name is Yanyu Li, and I go by Lily. I come from Shanghai, China. I double major in Education and Psychology. I have a twin sister who studies media design at Upenn. We are not identical twins, so we look nothing alike. A fun fact is that we even have different blood types. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music and watching movies.
My work this summer focuses on how Chinese food in the United States changes over time to adapt into American culture. I will interview the restaurant owners of Sushihanna and Fuji to get an insight of the story. I am very looking forward to a fun and productive summer.
Final Project: Chinese Food in the U.S.: A Story About Cultural Adaptation
Morgan McMullen ’21
My name is Morgan McMullen and I am a member of the class of 2021. I am a linguistics major with a double minor in Russian and computer science. I am from Harleysville, PA, which is located about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. This summer I will be doing research on human trafficking in the US, which is something I have been interested in for a few years. I want to bring awareness to the community about this prevalent issue and make them aware of what they can do to help. A fun fact about me is that I absolutely love elephants.
Final Project: Human Trafficking in the US
Meredith Newman '21
I am an undergraduate student at Bucknell University studying Economics and Environmental Studies. Most of my time spent outside of the classroom is on the Susquehanna River as a member of the rowing team here at Bucknell. This summer I will be researching sustainability across American cities, in hopes to learn more about how we can more effectively progress into the future. By looking at urban planning, public policy, and private initiatives, my research will analyze where we stand, and how our cities can evolve to face growing environmental concerns.
I am originally from Trumbull, CT, and have one older sister who is a pastry chef in New York City. In addition to my love for rowing, I also love traveling, cooking, and my King Charles Cavalier named Copper!
Final Project: Case Studies in Urban Sustainability: Los Angeles and New York City
Aung Pyae Phyo '21
Aung Pyae Phyo is a student in the Bucknell Class of 2021 from Yangon, Myanmar, also known as Burma. He is majoring in Markets, Innovation and Design, and hopefully minoring in Studio Art and Digital Humanities.
For his project, he will be exploring the rich history of the Burma-Bucknell Connection, and the students from Burma who have come all the way to Bucknell throughout the ages.
During the school year, he is active in different clubs on campus including the Burmese Cultural Organization, Calvin and Hobbes, and Fandom United. He is also a teaching assistant for Astronomy labs for both the daytime and nighttime sessions.
His other hobbies include making lists of things to cook that he probably has no time for, salivating while watching food shows on Netflix, and just generally enjoying his time with his friends.
Final Project: The Burma-Bucknell Connection
What is Digital Humanities? (To Us)
Digital Humanities is an open, diverse, and collaborative platform. It encourages collectiveness and community. By producing digital information we have the ability to share knowledge that should be public. Digital humanities is a network of ideas that has the ability to be revised and added upon with new information. It is the digital preservation of information that supports experimentation with new perspectives. Digital humanities is an ever changing interface that is fueled by curiosity and openness.
What are our Values?
We value willingness to share. Our statement of values enables us to remain true to our principles and stay united when confronting challenges. We value being in a community that is very supportive and safe. We share our knowledge across disciplines and value any kind of feedbacks as well as criticisms. We view digital humanities as flexible and contextual rather than fixed and eternal. The process of creating a project is open, participatory and networked, therefore communication and collaboration is very important. We value access, conversation, fluidity, and collaboration. The need for people with a range of skills to contribute affirms the community value. Being “open” allows us to reach to a larger audience, in order to get more evaluations and attentions. Being “open” also means that our sources are available for anyone else to use, which augments digital humanities’ public influence. We value “diversity” because it makes our projects more vibrant and our statements stronger. Last but not least, we value failures. We acknowledge that digital humanities is an expanding new field, and we can learn from any failure along the way of exploration.
What are our hopes and ambitions for this summer program?
By conducting digital humanities research, we hope to bring to light new ways of understanding and interpreting the world as we know it. In looking at issues and topics of study from varying perspectives, we have the ability to uncover and create. Digital humanities is all about making information more accessible to today’s modern world, and by conducting this form of research, we can contribute to the self-awareness of mankind. We grow stronger by the spreading of knowledge, and discovery can motivate development. We hope that through our work, we can inspire open-mindedness and draw attention to multidimensional issues that we deal with today. In learning how to approach research from different points of view, we can create projects that significantly build on what society has already come to know. It is through digital humanities that we can enrich the foundations of knowledge in the minds of those around us.
Conclusion
This summer, we will strive our best to maintain our visions toward the values that we have stated. We expect to run into problems, whether with our research leads or in the process of presenting our content. In this community of ours, we will help one another with the roadblocks that we encounter and encourage each other to produce the best projects we can. We hope that this, in turn, will help us not only fulfill our projects’ objectives but also exceed them.