Puzzles Symposium Topics
At our last seminar of the 2011 semester, we’re discussing group topic possibilities related to our “Puzzles” symposium theme and the ways in which our current work might lend itself to the topic.
Laura: Psychological testing: patient completes various surveys which then have to be assessed and analyzed to form a cohesive picture of who that person is.
Christine: Health care providers: who they are, what they do, along w/ case study of navigating health care system, including issues such as costs, etc.
Chris W: will run a puzzle contest in the spring with prizes given at symposium. Or explain phase problem in 7 minutes, a central mathemtatical concept
Jordan: neurolinguistics and the evolution of language: where it came from w/o empirical evidence. How do researchers piece this all together?
Ben: fractal puzzles in comp sci class
Ryan: ethics and puzzle of what people say they believe vs. how they act. Oral histories of people of faith working in farmworker movement.
Meg: Physics is taking complicated problem, breaking into pieces, figuring it out, and putting it back together and the parallels to complications in analyzing Vergil’s Latin poetry.
Ying: how group identity and social norms influence voter turnout and consequences. Plus riddles during breaks.
Chisom: politics of difference – standing out to fit in, affirmative action, exceptions to laws – creates a mosaic
Hersh: why the global 2008 financial crisis happened and the current European fiscal crisis – understanding it all is a giant puzzle.
Yihan: environmental policy making – how policies form, trade-offs and concessions; linguistics: discourse analysis, given unavoidable assumptions, give-and-take of renegotiating positions.
McKenzie: conflict and environment in Afghanistan: how to solve the peace puzzle of Afghanistan while weaving in the security element of the environment (redefining “human security: – having healthy environment, democracy, etc. beyond demilitarization).
Irene: Martin Gardner puzzles; law students – unsolved mysteries in the justice system – Durham D.A. currently under fire b/c of mishandling cases and judge is dismissing them. Puzzles of cooperation and trust – do a live prisoner’s dilemma during sympo. See: Robert Axelrod. Biology: why do species cheat on each other? puzzles of technology: once technology reaches certain level, can piece together bird lineages or DNA sequencing, how to make sense of genome analysis. Also: evolution and society – why people are so intractable in certain worldviews? (for ex: 60% of Americans don’t believe in evolution or climate change) or how science presented to public and to policy makers.
Jenna: patient assessments – how to determine what is wrong, given local resources, whether in a resource-rich environment like Duke or a resource-poor environment such as in rural areas. What factors, social forces, influence health care decisions, even whether or not to go to a doctor.
Jade: Impact evaluation – how a policy works or not, looking at historical precedent. Crossword puzzle writing competition or big wall crossword.
Maya: Dance – anatomy for better understanding how to create art, using body as an instrument.
Chris: groundwater pollution in Ethiopia – how households determine how and where they get and use water.
Maggie: transgenic mosquitos to reduce mosquito population, get science to work then get approval of ppl in population to combat dengue or other mosquito vector borne diseases.
Possible Group Topics (to be whittled down):
Putting Puzzles Together
Breaking Puzzles Apart
Puzzles of the Past, Puzzles of the Future
Behavioral Puzzles – Puzzles of Society
Puzzles of Technology
Puzzles of Science and Society
Finding Puzzles
Creating Puzzles
Evading/Avoiding Puzzles
Scientific Puzzles
Solved/Unsolved Puzzles
Living with Puzzles
