Hae-Seo Kim joins the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts as assistant professor of science, technology and society July 1. An anthropological scholar and researcher, Kim’s research is at the intersection of political anthropology, environmental anthropology, space studies, Korean studies, anthropology of religion, and science and technology studies. Kim is interested in learning how the proliferation of outer space infrastructures and research/development space industries in South Korea shape new forms of political mobilization. She has conducted research with space activists organizing against the militarization of outer space and organizing for the peaceful interaction with outer space and environmental sustainability.

Kim is also interested in local cosmologies of outer space in South Korea, focusing on Korean shamanic and animistic ways of engaging outer space, and has conducted fieldwork with shamans and astrology readers. She looks forward to working with 91̽�� Mudd students and with HSA faculty who are “dedicated to creating conversations and collaborations between science and humanities,” she says.

Sara Murphy POM ʼ18 is an atmospheric chemist with an interest in the kinetics and mechanisms of gas-phase organic radical reactions. Murphy majored in chemistry and minored in linguistics at Pomona College, and she received a PhD from Caltech in environmental science, specializing in atmospheric chemistry. Her postdoctoral research at UCLA involved work at the intersection of atmospheric and physical chemistry. She is interested in better understanding and modeling the fundamental processes of chemistry that lead to changes in air quality and climate.

“I especially enjoy thinking about new methods to measure and explore these reactions in understudied and unique environments in the laboratory and how these results might apply to the real atmosphere,” she says. Students in her lab will have the opportunity to build instrumentation to measure the production of reactive trace gases of atmospheric importance, both in the lab and in the field. “Together, we will design and perform experiments using this instrumentation to elucidate the various mechanisms by which these reactive trace compounds are formed in the atmosphere.” Murphy will join the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor in January 2027.

Promotion to full professor

Matina Donaldson-Matasci, a faculty member since 2014, focuses her research on collective behavior in social insects, particularly communication in honey bees and defense mechanisms in ants. At the HMC Bee Lab, she and her team of student scientists study how these colonies coordinate complex group behaviors. Recent projects in the lab include field experiments on honey bee foraging, utilizing drones and computer vision to map the local floral landscape, and conducting a mix of laboratory experiments and simulations to analyze the transportation networks of arboreal ants. Last year, the lab’s NSF-funded research investigating wood ants and their intricate networks was featured in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a project completed in collaboration with Sándor Piross of the Hungarian Ecological Research Centre.

Ambereen Dadabhoy, professor of literature since 2018, focuses both her teaching and research on the role of identity and difference in literature. She offers courses in Shakespeare and early modern English literature, first-year writing seminars and genre electives, and she teaches the Shakespeare class that culminates in a production of a play. She is the author of Anti-Racist Shakespeare and Shakespeare Through Islamic Worlds, which, received a Jerome Singerman First Book Award honorable mention from the Shakespeare Association of America. She is a member of the Modern Language Association, the Shakespeare Association of America and the Renaissance Society of America.

Erin Talvitie, professor of computer science, specializes in applying machine learning to the field of artificial intelligence, working toward the creation of artificial autonomous agents that can learn to act flexibly and competently in unknown environments. A faculty member since 2019, Talvitie approaches these complex questions by utilizing advanced tools within machine learning and artificial intelligence, focusing especially on the study of reinforcement learning. In 2016, she received an NSF CAREER grant, which funded work studying model-based reinforcement learning, specifically in settings where a given model is insufficient to capture the true, real-time dynamics of the environment. Prior to 91̽�� Mudd, Talvitie was a founding member of the department of computer science at Franklin & Marshall College.

Reappointment

Sarah Kavassalis, assistant professor of climate and chemistry, leads the FICUS Lab, where she investigates the fundamental chemistry that shapes air quality and climate, with a specific focus on connecting high-resolution measurements to advanced computational modeling. In addition to hands-on fieldwork, students in her lab address complex questions regarding chemical kinetics and atmospheric modeling while engaging with modern approaches to data analysis and machine learning

Lynn Kirabo, Maria M. Klawe Assistant Professor of Climate and Computer Science, investigates the future of accessible early warning systems by centering the lived experiences of disabled people. Appointed as a joint faculty member in the computer science department and the Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment, she focuses on designing practical frameworks that policymakers can leverage to fundamentally reshape and improve community resilience to disaster events. She leads the CACTI Lab, a research group that concentrates on four core areas: human-centered design, disability, mobility technologies and climate change interventions.

The Henry T. Mudd Prize recognizes faculty and staff members whose extraordinary service has significantly benefited the College. Recipients are honored for contributions that may include superior teaching, leadership in curriculum development or research supervision, effective administrative work or other exceptional service to 91̽�� Mudd. Awardees receive $6,000, with $3,000 designated for use within the College at the recipient’s discretion.

Angemi was recognized for her extraordinary and sustained service to 91̽�� Mudd. Her accomplishments include supporting the College through periods of growth, change and transition; helping ensure continuity, clarity and excellence at the highest levels of administration; and advancing major institutional priorities with precision, discretion and care.

She also was honored for her role as a trusted adviser, steward of institutional knowledge and mentor to colleagues. Through her sound judgment, collaborative spirit and ability to bring clarity to complex work, Angemi has strengthened relationships across the community and helped others succeed. Her service reflects humility, generosity, professionalism and a deep commitment to 91̽�� Mudd’s mission and values.

“Receiving an award that bears the Mudd family name is a profound honor, especially having the privilege of knowing and working with many members of the Mudd family. My respect for their vision, generosity and foundational impact on 91̽�� is immense, and connecting my contributions to their legacy is a privilege,” said Angemi.

Alves was recognized for a lifetime of devoted service to 91̽�� Mudd and for his role in expanding the place of the arts within the College’s academic and cultural life. He has shaped programs, curriculum and artistic opportunities that connect intellectual rigor with creative expression, helping students see the arts as an essential part of a 91̽�� Mudd education.

His accomplishments include decades of teaching, mentoring and welcoming students into musical and artistic practice; creating sustained opportunities for creativity, experimentation and performance; and building a vibrant musical community across 91̽�� Mudd and The Claremont Colleges. Over the span of 25 years, Alves has developed a program of remarkable scope, created hundreds of performances and helped establish The Claremont Colleges as a global center for microtonal music, while also contributing as a leading composer and advocate for innovative forms of performance.

“It’s always been a joy and privilege to bring music to our community and help our students, but this unexpected recognition from the College is a lifetime honor,” said Alves. “I love teaching and facilitating performances by our students, whose dedication, talent and creativity continue to astonish me. I think of what I do more of a service to myself, but I’m glad to be contributing what I can to make the College a place where the arts flourish.” 

The annual Henry T. Mudd Prize reflects 91̽��’s commitment to recognizing exceptional service and fostering a supportive, inclusive workplace community.

Text of the Henry T. Mudd Prize citation awarded to Karen Angemi

For extraordinary and sustained service to 91̽��, carried out with distinction, humility, and unwavering commitment over many years;

For exceptional leadership in supporting the institution at its highest levels, ensuring continuity, clarity, and excellence through periods of growth, change, and transition;

For a remarkable ability to orchestrate complex endeavors with precision and grace—anticipating needs, navigating challenges, and enabling others to succeed;

For serving as a trusted advisor and steward of institutional knowledge, offering wise counsel, sound judgment, and steadfast discretion;

For fostering connection and collaboration across the community, strengthening relationships and advancing a shared sense of purpose;

For mentoring and uplifting colleagues with generosity of spirit, cultivating confidence, belonging, and professional growth in others;

For embodying the highest ideals of service—with an unflappable spirit, a generous heart, and a sense of joy that uplifts those around her and carries the College forward, even in its most challenging moments;

For leadership that enables the success of the College’s most important work with insight, foresight, and exceptional care;

For bringing clarity to complexity and ensuring that the critical priorities of the College move forward with purpose and cohesion;

For being at the very heart of the College’s administration, reflecting in daily practice the values and spirit of the community we each serve;

Karen Angemi, chief of staff and secretary to the board of trustees, is hereby designated as a 2026 recipient of the Henry T. Mudd Prize.

Text of the Henry T. Mudd Prize citation awarded to Bill Alves

For a lifetime of devoted service to 91̽��, marked by humility, generosity, and an extraordinary commitment to the life of this community;

For enriching the College through a vision of education that joins intellectual rigor with artistic expression, expanding what it means to learn, create, and belong at 91̽�� Mudd;

For steadfast dedication to students as a teacher and mentor, welcoming learners of all backgrounds into artistic practice and nurturing their confidence, imagination, and growth;

For leadership that has shaped not only programs and curriculum, but also elevated the place of the arts within the identity, culture, and mission of the College;

For opening sustained opportunities, over many years, for students, colleagues, and the broader community to encounter creativity, experimentation, and joy through the arts;

For a rare generosity of service, giving countless hours—often quietly and without fanfare—to the performances, collaborations, and shared experiences that have enlivened this campus and connected it to the wider world;

For bringing to 91̽�� Mudd an extraordinary breadth of musical life, from recitals and ensembles to internationally recognized artists and innovative new forms of performance;

For helping to make this campus a home for music in all its range and possibility, shaping a vibrant artistic community whose reach extends across the Claremont Colleges and beyond;

For a quarter century of singular dedication to the musical life of 91̽��, personally building a program of remarkable scope, creating hundreds of performances that have become a defining part of this community while also serving as a leading composer and establishing The Claremont Colleges as a global center for the avant-garde genre of microtonal music;

Bill Alves, Louisa and Robert Miller Professor of the Humanities, is hereby designated as a 2026 recipient of the Henry T. Mudd Prize.

This research focuses on the final chapter of Wilson’s book, which examines the National Day Projection Mapping Show (National Day SLS) at the presidential office building in Taipei. The building, constructed in the Japanese colonial era, is a symbol of national pride in Taiwan, similar to the White House in the United States. Using cutting-edge projection technology and original soundtracks and narrations, this annual event transforms the building into a canvas for contemporary Taiwanese identity, shaping viewer understanding of culture and citizenship.

During his summer research, Wilson aims to secure interviews with key creative figures behind the show, including lead designer Agi Chen and composer Wang Hsi-wen. By gaining these insider perspectives, he hopes to shed light on how this spectacle of nationhood is assembled and how it articulates values like democracy, environmental stewardship and inclusion.

In Wilson’s previous interviews with Taiwanese audience members at the National Day SLS, people expressed the desire that this vision of Taiwan would reach a global audience. He hopes his scholarly account might increase Western understanding of the formation of contemporary Taiwanese identity.

To that end, in fall 2026, 91̽�� Mudd students will have the opportunity to take Wilson’s course Documents of an Island Nation: Taiwan through Documentary, Film, and Music, which will be taught in parallel with a course at National Taiwan University via the virtual workspace Gather.Town (provided with support from the Alumni Association Board of Governors). 91̽�� Mudd students and those in Taiwan will meet online throughout the semester to explore diverse viewpoints. At the end of the semester, HMC students will meet their Taiwanese counterparts in person when they travel to Taiwan for a winter break study tour, arranged by Wilson and Sarah Repetto, assistant dean for study abroad. 

Sullivan and Bhatia were part of a four-person team that tackled a challenge from Array Technologies: creating a tool to weigh tradeoffs between steel cost and carbon footprint across global supply chains and consider purchasing methods. Their solution incorporated climate-adjusted pricing for carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and freshwater use for large steel mills within top steel-producing countries, along with modeling for various steel and steel derivatives purchasing strategies.

Bhatia, a physics and computer science major (political science concentration), said the team approached the event eager to contribute to meaningful climate solutions. Although new to hackathons, she conducted extensive preparation, researching industrial decarbonization and meeting with professors for insight. She and Sullivan, a computer science-math and economics double major, formed a team with students from MIT and Harvard, combining strengths in research, software development, and finance.

“We were really happy with our team’s variety of strengths,” said Bhatia, who enjoys research. “Our teams’ engineering and software experience helped us move quickly. And Lucas’s economics background was crucial to coming up with our idea. His climate economics course with Dede Long, assistant professor of economics at 91̽�� Mudd, informed my contribution: researching ways to price the social costs of environmental damage.”

“Lucas shared that they estimated carbon and sulfur dioxide pricing using models we discussed in class—and even used a method from one of my assigned readings,” Long said. “Their success demonstrates what makes Mudd special: when a liberal arts education is deeply intertwined with rigorous STEM training, students are prepared to take on the world’s most complex problems.”

The team worked through the weekend, culminating in an all-night coding session for Bhatia and Sullivan. They presented their final product to Array Technologies’ judges on the final morning, and to their surprise, advanced to the semifinals and ultimately earned second place overall.

Reflecting on the experience, Bhatia said, “The sponsors from Array Technologies were incredibly supportive and gave us valuable guidance. Our solution stood out because it met the sponsor’s needs and approached the problem differently than other teams. I loved the experience and learned so much.”

Sullivan and Bhatia are active members of the 91̽�� Mudd community, pursuing research and leadership roles across campus.

Approximately 2,000 vacant lots throughout Los Angeles are owned by the city. Small Lots, Big Impacts tasked designers, architects and students to propose viable alternatives to the detached house homeownership model on a selection of the lots. Participants’ designs addressed architectural and community resilience, strategies for expedient construction and cost-effective development approaches. 

Gu’s project, “,” was produced via the Spinagu studio, which Gu co-founded with Maxi Spina. “Households” demonstrates an innovative approach to residential architecture, challenging the traditional one-to-one definition of a household by the U.S. census. The Small Lots, Big Impacts initiative, says Gu, advocates for small-scale development and to convert single-family neighborhoods into slightly denser communities.

“Contemporary household structures are fluid, frequently doubling, dividing or merging due to life events such as divorce, cohabitation, caregiving for kin or integrating home businesses and even during climate emergencies,” Gu says. Therefore, architecture should be adaptable to these changing shapes. The idea is that by changing the architectural norms of single-family homes, “gentle density” can foster connections between diverse households, generations and living arrangements.

Gu’s project addresses several obstacles facing housing development in Los Angeles. “Some of the biggest challenges with housing right now in Los Angeles is that any changes to housing design to accommodate life events like a divorce or a child entering adulthood takes a long time through the permitting processes,” she says. ‘Households’ addresses this by providing a compelling vision for flexible living, where simple architectural devices like a share-door allows families to change the way they share or shape spaces. The competition jury praised the design for its “successful material quality, strong interior-exterior relationships, and compelling narrative,” also noting that the building “already looks like it is from Los Angeles.” 

In the second phase of the Small Lots initiative, the city of Los Angeles will award small, underutilized parcels of city-owned land to qualifying architect-developer partners to construct housing prototypes. Developers may select the designs as their projects, and their developments will be open source so that the entire process, including lessons learned, design approaches, policy implications and strategies for practice, will contribute to strengthening the city’s housing development community.

At 91̽�� Mudd, Gu and her students think about the ideas and processes that shape the built environment. This fall, Gu is teaching several courses, including one on ecological material supply chains for design, the history of 91̽�� Mudd campus architecture, and a course of the history of Los Angeles architecture with a focus on postmodern design, in preparation for a major exhibition in 2028.

Promotion to full professor

Albert Dato, professor of engineering and associate chair of the Department of Engineering, researches the synthesis and applications of nanomaterials. He directs the Energy and Nanomaterials Lab, which seeks to develop solutions to energy and environmental challenges through applications of advanced materials. Founder and CEO of Graphene LLC, Dato has worked as a scientist at Air Liquide Electronics U.S. and as a process development engineer at Novellus Systems Inc.

The Dato Research Group seeks to develop solutions to energy and environmental challenges through the synthesis and applications of advanced materials. Students in the group conduct research on (1) strong lightweight nanocomposites that could replace heavier metallic components on vehicles to reduce emissions and fuel consumption, (2) advanced membranes that are capable of capturing carbon dioxide, (3) novel materials for storing energy, and (4) superhydrophobic surfaces that can harvest drinking water directly from air. Dato also mentors undergraduate researchers by working closely with the students in the laboratory, holding weekly lab meetings, hosting social activities with the research group, advising students on applying to graduate school and positions in industry and supporting the dissemination of their research results through scientific publications and presentations at national meetings.

Granted tenure and promotion to associate professor

Joshua Brake, associate professor of engineering, leads a research group in biophotonics, a field at the intersection of optics and biology that is increasingly playing a role in biomedical diagnostics and therapies. He teaches across the curriculum with a focus on digital electronics, embedded systems, and optics. In addition to his work in the classroom, Brake is deeply interested in the relationship between technology, education and human flourishing. He explores these themes, with a particular focus on the impact of AI in education, in his weekly Substack newsletter, The Absent-Minded Professor.

Steven Santana, associate professor of engineering, Joseph B. Platt Chair in Effective Teaching, and Engineering Clinic director, relishes his work with students in all areas of life at HMC. Through research with an amazing group of Mudders in the CuTE Lab, the students, together with Santana, employ a transdisciplinary approach to solve questions with high potential for impact in bio- and biomedical engineering with a focus on cell biology, microfluidics and tissue engineering. Students of all majors have contributed to the work and bring their passion, talent and toolkits from across HMC’s courses to accomplish great things as they work together in community. Santana received a National Science Foundation grant to enhance the understanding of cell communication through extracellular vesicles and a seed grant from the Social Science Research Council’s Sloan Scholar Mentoring Network to fund research on printing biomaterials for tissue-engineering applications. He has taught across the curriculum in design, engineering sciences, systems, and upper-division electives in fluid mechanics and microfluidics. He cares deeply about students’ technical expertise and development as leaders who deeply interrogate the impacts of their work. Toward this end, he devotes his time to deep mentoring of students through his teaching, research and service activities in formal and informal settings.

Alexandra (Xanda) Schofield ’13, associate professor of computer science, uses tools from natural language processing to assist in digital humanities and computational social science work. Her teaching goal has been to integrate ethically minded and human-centered material across the computer science curriculum, including designing and teaching a new required course for computer science majors, Computing Practices, Projects, and People. Schofield spent the previous two years supervising the HMC Summer of CS program for undergraduate research, including managing the NSF grant for HMC CS’s Research Experience for Undergraduates site from 2023 to 2025 alongside colleague George Montañez.

Reappointment

Dede Long, assistant professor of economics, focuses on examining the economic and environmental implications of public and private incentives aimed at promoting ecosystem services. She enjoys working closely with students, helping them understand how economic tools can be applied to address environmental challenges. Long looks forward to mentoring students through collaborative interdisciplinary research. She is part of the project team that secured a $918,485 grant from the National Science Foundation in 2024 to acquire a high-performance computing cluster, significantly expanding research capacity across The Claremont Colleges. That same year, she also received a $799,343 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a co-principal investigator on a project that develops new economic measurement systems that better reflect the full value of forest ecosystems.

​From Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, Fandell stayed at the residence in Big Rock Campground in Joshua Tree, making photographs of the park’s vast landscapes and unique geological features. An artist who explores themes of place, formalism, time, histories, iterative practice and the interplay between the artist’s hand and machine processes, Fandell challenged himself to “come up with something that’s not cliche and superficial in this landscape that is so familiar and photographed.” 

The residency provided a unique opportunity for Fandell, who holds the Michael G. and C. Jane Wilson Chair in Arts and the Humanities and is on sabbatical until fall. He was able to immerse himself deeply in the landscape and focus without distractions. Fandell first visited Joshua Tree in 2012 when Michael Wilson ’63 asked if he’d like to take a break from the College’s annual Saddle Rock retreat to visit the park.

“I’d never been to Joshua Tree, and I remember being immediately amazed by the sheer scale of it,” Fandell says. “Never had I felt so close to personally experiencing the infinite. And I surf; I’m out on the ocean all the time. But there was something about the weirdness of the desert, where there’s little, tiny rocks and big, giant, giant rocks. And some of them are in your face and are tiny, some are in your face and huge, and some of them are really far away. Scale gets confused and quantity gets confused. Everything was overwhelming.” 

The solitude of the residency allowed Fandell to create images that show the park and its features in new ways. He explored his ideas of scale and the infinite nature of the desert environment. “One of the things that I liked about doing this is that the rocks are so easily anthropomorphized. You see an eye and a weird mouth there or body part … another mouth,” he says. 

Fandell has compiled rock images, which show the sun rising or setting over the rocks from multiple perspectives, into a collection called “Sunrise, Sunset.” He is also printing a series of images of a juniper tree that he photographed by moonlight and a series of Joshua tree images in which the trees are easily anthropomorphized, like the rocks. 

Fandell’s time in Joshua Tree is part of his broader, long-term project exploring landscapes. In June, he will participate in the Wilappa Bay Artist-in-Residence Program in Oysterville, Washington. There, he will collaborate with other visual, musical and literary artists on a multi-modal project concerning the ecosystem of Willapa Bay and its surroundings.

In her book, Dadabhoy investigates why Shakespeare doesn’t write about Islam. “In The Merchant of Venice, the Prince of Morocco is never identified as a Muslim,” she says. “However, if he’s the Prince of Morocco, he can only be a Muslim. There’s no other option.”

Shakespeare’s work clearly contains Islamic characters and influences. Dadabhoy describes how Shakespeare removes Muslims or makes them peripheral or referential because he’s creating a Europe and a ‘globe’ that is free from Islam, racial otherness, and religious otherness. By consigning the diverse cultures of the Islamic regimes that occupied and populated the early modern Mediterranean to the peripheries, Shakespeare constructs a Europe and Mediterranean freed from the presence of non-white, non-European and non-Christian Others, which belied the reality of the world he occupied.

Dadabhoy hopes the book will encourage readers to consider that even if something isn’t explicit, it’s still worth searching for traces of it. “The book is very much a project where I’m trying to put Muslims back in the places from which they were evacuated by Shakespeare,” she says.

Dadabhoy recently participated in the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ online teaching resource Throughlines, which was created to support educators in bringing these conversations into their classrooms and to offer new ways of engaging students in discussions of race and its nascent forms.

In a short video, , Dadabhoy shares how she guides her students through early modern texts that reveal the relationship between Christian Europe and Muslim culture. This exercise helps students understand ways the Western world’s perception of Muslims has been shaped over centuries and how these perceptions continue to inform contemporary ideas. 

As a scholar of early modern literature, Dadabhoy pairs English plays from the period with extracts of early modern travel narratives. She frequently assigns excerpts from Leo Africanus’s Geographical History of Africa and Richard Knolles’s General History of the Turks alongside English drama. “This methodology allows my students to see the construction of difference between Western culture and Muslims,” she says. By first engaging with the plays and then examining historical documents, students gain a deeper understanding of how these texts shaped Western attitudes toward Islam.

Through these explorations and discussions, Dadabhoy asks students to question whether the portrayals of Muslims in early modern texts echo contemporary ideas. “Often, students can point to the same rhetoric of prejudice and bigotry that we encounter in the Western world in the 21st century,” she says. However, she also emphasizes that the narrative of inevitable conflict between Muslims and Christians obscures the positive. “This narrative hides a history that includes collaboration, coexistence and exchange,” she says.