Matt Mason ’16 was invited to compose a new piano piece for an international composition project called 250 Pieces for Beethoven in celebration of his 250th birthday. For the upcoming anniversary 2020, Bonn pianist Susanne Kessel invited composers from around the world to compose piano pieces which refer to Ludwig van Beethoven and his work. Since 2013, Susanne Kessel issues personal invitations to composers of new music, jazz and film music. The premieres of the piano pieces are being held in Beethoven’s birth city, Bonn, while further performances of selected pieces will be held in other cities as well. Radio recordings (WDR) and CD productions will accompany the project. All the pieces will be published by 2020 from EDITIONS MUSICA FERRUM and will be available for the international music world. Other composers include Academy Award winner Bruce Broughton, David Bowie’s Pianist Mike Garson, 3 time Pulitzer Prize nominee, and many others from all over the world.
Alumnae to Perform in “Firefly Love” in Chicago
Sydney Muchnik ’16
Sydney Muchnik ’16 was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Yale University.
The highly selective NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program accepts 2,000 applicants from a nationwide pool of undergraduates in STEM fields. Fellows – such as Muchnik – receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, as well as an additional $12,000 to cover education costs to conduct research at any U.S. graduate institution of their choice. Fellows also benefit from the international reputation of the program, which includes numerous Nobel Prize winners, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu as former Fellows.
As an Illinois Wesleyan undergraduate student, Muchnik was active in the campus community where she served as President of the Math Honors Society and Vice President of Colleges Against Cancer. She also worked as a Resident Assistant and a Residential Community Advisor. In addition, Muchnik gained experience as an intern for Advocate BroMenn Volunteer Services, where she completed an extensive research project on the history of the Brokaw School of Nursing at IWU.
During her senior year, Muchnik joined Miner Linnaeus Sherff Endowed Professor of Botany David Bollivar in his laboratory, where she worked on a project involving bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis. When describing Muchnik’s work, Bollivar said, “She had a talent for seeing the greater picture while still focusing on the details needed for success in the laboratory.”
Through her fellowship, Muchnik will continue her passion for laboratory research in the Genetics Department at Yale. Her current thesis project explores how changes in regulatory regions of DNA can shed light on how genetics have driven the evolution of distinctly human aspects of brain function and development. To do so, she will study gene transcription and modification at different stages of a human brain’s development and compare her findings to the gene sequences found in non-human primates.
Muchnik has already conducted research in the Biomedical Engineering department at Yale, where she worked alongside a professor to develop a technique for single-cell cytokine secretion in real time, a process used to activate latent HIV cells for study in the lab.
See the full article here.
Congratulations, Sydney!
Sam Mullooly ’16
All In for Wesleyan
Tuesday, April 3rd is our day of giving at Illinois Wesleyan and this year’s theme is
Think Bigger!
Not only is today a day for giving, it’s a day to celebrate IWU and all of the things that make it special. Last year, our class had an impressive 45 donors, and we contributed $1,848. Let’s think bigger and surpass last year’s donors and dollars contributed! Think of the impact this can make for IWU students and their families!
Click here to learn more and to donate on Tuesday, April 3rd.
Help spread the word using #AllInForWesleyan and take advantage of our social media toolkit.
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Happy Holidays Class of 2016!
The spirit of giving is all around us this holiday season, please consider giving the gift of bright futures to current and future Illinois Wesleyan University students. Your gifts provide opportunities and experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime.
Giving Tuesday
After Black Friday and Cyber Monday is #GivingTuesday, a global initiative to celebrate generosity and give back during the holiday season. Join the movement and help make bright futures possible for current Titans with a gift at www.iwu.edu/give today!
Homecoming Veteran’s Service 2017
As IWU celebrates Titans Around the World at Homecoming this weekend, we will also honor our alumni who served worldwide as veterans and first-responders, including Captain Ryan A. Beaupre ’95. We will remember Ryan and all veterans and first-responders who have given their lives in the service of others and our country. Presenting the colors will be American Legion Color Guard Post 635 Normal and Post 56 from Bloomington. The ceremony will take place this Saturday, October 14th at 12:45 p.m., prior to the Homecoming Football game at Tucci Stadium and will include the National Anthem sung by Wayne Messmer ’72. Classmates and friends can view the ceremony on streaming video live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/.
The Red Scarves
Ryan Donlin ’17, Robby Kuntz ’18, and Braden Poole ’16 are members of the band The Red Scarves. This Chicago-based pop rock band formed at IWU, and credit their jazz and classical music studies as key to creating their songs. They recently performed here in Bloomington on Sept. 30. You can read more about it here.