Karime Castillo - Anthropology
Karime Castillo is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology. She joined the Bowdoin faculty in 2021. She teaches courses in archaeology of the recent past and the cultural area of Mesoamerica. Her research focuses on the production of glass in colonial Mexico. She is designing a course on archaeology of Spanish colonialism with an emphasis on decolonization. Over the course of this fellowship, she hopes to develop teaching strategies that promote equity and inclusion in the classroom, as well as active-learning activities to foster student engagement.
Eric Chown - Digital and Computational Studies
Eric Chown is the Sarah and James Bowdoin Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, a program that he co-founded in 2019 after spending twenty years in the computer science department. He was awarded an NSF CAREER grant in 2002 for his work on spatial cognition, and in 2007 he led Bowdoin’s RoboCup team to a world championship in the Standard Platform League where autonomous robots compete in soccer. His new book, with co-author Fernando Nascimento, is entitled “Meaningful Technology: How Digital Metaphors Change the Way We Think and Live” and will be out in January, 2023. As a faculty fellow he is working on finding ways to make his teaching more inclusive and to explore alternative models of grading.
Alison Riley Miller - Education
Alison Riley Miller is an Assistant Professor of Education and learning scientist who conducts design-based research around learning environments in the context of pre-K – grade 12 STEM education. Her research focuses on students’ engagement with scientific and engineering practices (modeling, data analysis and interpretation, evidence-based argumentation, etc.) and on the teacher professional learning that supports those opportunities for authentic science learning. She is particularly interested in teaching and learning around models and visualizations in the context of Earth and Environmental Science. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Miller taught for nine years at the secondary level and that experience informs her research interests in science teaching and learning, modeling and visualization, and teacher education. She is currently redesigning her course on Science Education and looks forward to developing assessments that encourage student choice, collaboration, and authentic engagement in both formal and informal science learning environments.
Brian Purnell - Africana Studies and History
Brian Purnell is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History. He teaches and researches the history of cities and civil rights in the United States. He lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife Leana and their children. For this fellowship, he is focused on creating accessible, flexible, democratic, demanding and intense learning environments that value the individuality of each student and enable all students to grow beyond their previous knowledge and experience to attain new skills, data, and methods through which to apply their learning through their lives.
Mileidy Varela Madera - Physics
Mileidy Varela Madera is a Lab Instructor in the Physics Department and joined Bowdoin college in 2021. She is interested in implementing learner-centered practices for her Introductory Physics Labs that effectively develop understanding, skills, and confidence in her students. She envisions that students can polish their observation, patience, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills by creating challenges in the lab. She wants to be part of the team that encourages or motivates students to love science and to break the stigma that science is abstract and for select people.
Túlio Zille - Government and Legal Studies
Túlio Zille is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Government and Legal Studies. His research and teaching interests span topics in Development, Post- and Decolonial Studies, Political Ecology, Indigenous Thought, Critical Theory, and Social Movements. He also has a parallel interest in the politics of humanitarian interventions, and in Feminism and Queer Theories. His work focuses generally on Latin America and the Global South (broadly construed to include people of color in the North). During this fellowship, he is interested in exploring alternative, more inclusive approaches to grading, as well as classroom practices that foster discussion and community in larger enrollment classes.