Maple Scholars Project Reports

  • Anabaptist Wiki

    The Global Anabaptist Wikipedia Jacob Swartzentruber, Senior from Albuquerque, New Mexico John D. Roth, Professor of History This project seeks to develop a Global Anabaptist Wikipedia inviting Anabaptists from around the world to present encyclopedic information about Anabaptist groups, share personal stories and catalogue Anabaptist-related sources. Work on the project was split into three distinct categories addressing separate issues on the Wikipedia: technical, content and social. Main technical issues addressed included instituting an RSS feed, adding a WYSIWYG editor, redesigning page layouts and developing anti-spam measures. The content element was improved by implementing a categorization tree, uploading multiple journals and establishing contact with other Anabaptist institutions. Finally, the social component was enhanced through a wide range of translation capabilities, creation of banner ads, formation of a community portal and development of help pages. These various developments have prepared the Global Anabaptist Wikipedia for a public launch and eventual community building.

  • Willard Krabill

    This Maple Scholars project focused primarily on Dr. Willard S. Krabill’s sexuality-related contributions to the Goshen community; to the Mennonite Church; and to Goshen College. Willard’s broader life experiences were looked at as guiding factors that led him to be an advocate for healthy, faithful sexuality. The project involved a great deal of primary-source research: transcribing and analyzing 10 hours of interviews completed by his family in the months prior to his January 2009 death, analyzing his archival collection of correspondence and minutes, reading published and unpublished writings, and interviewing colleagues such as Norman Kauffman and Anne Krabill Hershberger. Another significant component of the research involved studying Willard’s co-writing of Human Sexuality in the Christian Life and reading his several chapters in Anne Krabill Hershberger’s Sexuality: God’s Gift.

  • Plasma Instabilities

    Creation of an Undergraduate Plasma Laboratory and an Exploration into Plasma Instabilities David J. Nyce, Senior from Millbury, Massachusetts Carl S. Helrich, Professor Emeritus of Physics This project uses an apparatus given to the college by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to familiarize students with important aspects of the United States’ Energy Program. We are creating a laboratory manual for use in an upper level course in Physics at Goshen College, which will use this apparatus. The laboratory experiments will cover topics ranging from formation of a plasma to studies of instabilities that occur in the plasma. Our studies this summer have also included exploration into the complicated plasma instabilities that occur frequently. Specifically magnetic effects have been studied.

  • Mural Painting

    Mural Painting Liz Gunden, Senior Art Major Randy Horst, Associate Professor of Art The mural is a unique art form in that it presents many distinctive challenges. The physical act of painting a mural as well as transferring a design onto a large scale are the more obvious challenges to painting a mural. Additional complications come into play when one considers the implications and restrictions of painting something that will go in a public space. Finding materials that are durable and appropriate for specific locations is yet another challenge. This summer, I painted a mural on plywood panels that is now located in the Roman Gingerich Recreational Fitness Center. The first half of the project included researching the history of murals and techniques, finding a location to paint, and coming up with a design. The second half involved purchasing materials, preparing the painting surface, transferring my design, and painting. The purpose of the Mural Painting Project was for me to fully explore the challenge of painting a mural, and this task has been fulfilled.

  • Heavenly Voices

    Heavenly Voices Julia Baker, Senior from Fresno, California Pat McFarlane, Associate Professor of Communications The play Heavenly Voices shares the stories of Mennonite Women of Color across the Mennonite Church from Alabama to Montana, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The play was preformed on July 14, 2010 at Living Waters Fellowship in Chicago and on July 16 and 17th on the Umble stage at Goshen College. McFarlane has interwoven these extraordinary stories of ordinary women, shedding light on God's faithfulness and work in their lives. Stories include how they came to faith, the impact of that faith on their lives and families, and how they have overcome hardship and hope to be remembered. These women's stories were collected during the Mennonite Women of Color Oral History Project conducted from 2000 to 2006 by Pat McFarlane, associate professor of communication at Goshen College, and Linda Christophel, school social worker in Michigan. The play came out of research and work from McFarlane's doctoral dissertation, entitled "Performing the "Other" in Religious Community: An Interpretive Qualitative Inquiry among American Mennonite Women." Through the course of rehearsal and production McFarlane has been gathering observations and interviewing the actresses to gain insight into the research question; how does playing the roles of Mennonite women who are "other" to the actresses' deepen and extend the actresses' understanding of other? Heavenly VoicesJulia Baker, Senior from Fresno, CaliforniaPat McFarlane, Associate Professor of Communications The play Heavenly Voices shares the stories of Mennonite Women of Color across the Mennonite Church from Alabama to Montana, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The play was preformed on July 14, 2010 at Living Waters Fellowship in Chicago and on July 16 and 17th on the Umble stage at Goshen College. McFarlane has interwoven these extraordinary stories of ordinary women, shedding light on God's faithfulness and work in their lives. Stories include how they came to faith, the impact of that faith on their lives and families, and how they have overcome hardship and hope to be remembered. These women's stories were collected during the Mennonite Women of Color Oral History Project conducted from 2000 to 2006 by Pat McFarlane, associate professor of communication at Goshen College, and Linda Christophel, school social worker in Michigan. The play came out of research and work from McFarlane's doctoral dissertation, entitled "Performing the "Other" in Religious Community: An Interpretive Qualitative Inquiry among American Mennonite Women." Through the course of rehearsal and production McFarlane has been gathering observations and interviewing the actresses to gain insight into the research question; how does playing the roles of Mennonite women who are "other" to the actresses' deepen and extend the actresses' understanding of other?

  • Frog Muscles

    Biology: Memory at the Frog Neuromuscular Junction Hannah Geiser, Sophomore Dr. Rich Manalis, Dr. James Miller How do you remember how to ride a bike? What really happens in your brain that you can recall eating a piece of pie a year ago? This projectís goal was to develop an undergraduate lab using the frog gastrocnemius muscle to demonstrate the simplest form of memory. Since brain synapses are not convenient to work with, we have studied the frog neuromuscular junction as an alternative. However, neuromuscular junctions have all-or-none responses, so this project looks at making the synapse reliably exhibit facilitation. Variations using temperature, high magnesium/ low calcium ringerís solutions, d-tubocurarine chloride, and high frequency stimulation were all tested for reproducibility. Dissecting a gastrocnemius in a tray of 2.5 mM Mg and 1.0 mM Ca and letting the solution diffuse for 90 min before applying dual pulses appeared to get the most reliable facilitation.

  • Ancient Near East Perspectives on Becoming Human

    There has been an explosion of scientific interest in consciousness in recent decades in fields as diverse as neuroscience, philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. These developments have also sharpened the longstanding debate in religion and theology about the nature of human beings and the interface of creation and evolution. Crucial for holistic evaluation and integration of the scientific developments is theological and biblical work that keeps pace with our expanding awareness of the history of consciousness. The texts of the Bible and the ancient literature of its cultural environment give evidence of reasoned and revelatory reflections on the nature of human beings and their place in the created cosmos. Origin stories, etiological epics, and speculative theodicies reveal the ways in which ancient conceptions of the essential features of humans beings developed.

  • Frida Kahlo

    Pregnancy Loss and Visual Expressions of Grief: An Examination of Frida Kahlo Chelsea Kaufman, Senior from Racine, Wisconsin Jessica Baldanzi, Professor of English Frida Kahlo was a prolific Mexican painter who suffered three miscarriages, and used her skills as an artist to express her grief from those pregnancy losses in a visual form. Kahlo’s visual voice is an exclusive example of the connection between the grief of pregnancy loss and visual representation because pregnancy loss is seen as a taboo subject, and women’s experiences with grief are often silenced. This project sought to use Kahlo's work to map a visual vocabulary that those experiencing the grief of pregnancy loss can employ to express their own grief. A chronological study of her work revealed four main themes that connect to the traditional stages of grief: baby imagery, different uses of space, the “floating Frida” effect, and the use of vine or cord-like lines.

  • Fractal Music

    Mathematics and Music: An introductory exploration of set theory, chaos and fractals Lydia Short, Sarah Rody Patricia Oakley, Professor of Mathematics This summer we, Lydia Short, math and piano graduate, and Sarah Rody, third year math major and piano minor, had only one task: find an idea that combines math and music and, from it, develop a project. After a broad search that covered everything from tuning theories to asymmetric rhythms, we decided on fractal music. We came up with two different approaches to composing fractal music. Lydia focused more creating music using fractal construction methods of Iterated Function Systems on a specific set of notes and times instead of a geometric shape. Sarah focused on creating a fractal image of an Iterated Function System and mapping the image onto different musical scales. These constructions connect the mathematical concept of fractals to music in different ways, which create different sounds in their respective musical compositions. These programs are just two of many examples of how mathematics and music connect.

  • Amphotericin B

    The Effects of Amphotericin B on Erythrocyte Membrane Transport Michael Fecher, Junior from Goshen, Indiana Dr. James Miller, Professor of Biology A great amount of life as we know it depends on a little wall that is 7 nanometers wide: the cell membrane. It keeps us alive by protecting our cells. It is also a prominent biological target in medical treatment for infectious diseases from malaria, to fungal infections, to strep throat. This project explores cell membrane physiology and biochemistry of the antifungal drug Amphotericin B. Amphotericin is a potent antifungal that is also toxic to the human cells. This study used donkey, chicken, and turkey red blood cells to observe the effects of amphotericin on membrane permeability to various nonelectrolytes. This may elucidate some of the details of amphotericin’s chemotherapeutic properties and its interaction with human cells.

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