Eleven faculty/student teams were awarded Albright Council on Undergraduate Research grants to support collaborative research projects during the summer. Representative of the diverse disciplines offered at Albright, projects ranged from physics and psychology to religious studies and environmental science.

Andrew Harris ’04 worked with Dr. Bill King, chair of the Religious Studies Department, on a project titled "Joseph Priestley’s Religious Thought and the American Enlightenment." Harris researched the philosophies and views of this 18th century scientist and "natural philosopher" and is setting up a website to help other Priestley researchers learn more about him.

Michael Fink ’03 partnered with Dr. Brian Buerke of the Physics Department on a project titled "Measurement of Superluminal Propagation of Light Through a Tunneling Barrier." Although the speed of light in empty space is the fastest speed possible, there are special circumstances where light can appear to move faster than the speed of light. This occurs when light "leaks" into narrow regions where it is normally not allowed. Some theories predict that light will actually jump across the narrow region (a gap) infinitely fast. The project was designed to test this effect.

Allison Steinmeyer ’03 and Dr. Julia Heberle, assistant professor of psychology, examined children’s performance on a task of executive function, the Dimension Change Card Sort, which requires children to be flexible in how they sort a set of objects, either by color or by shape. They changed the standard task to be more child friendly and game-like, in an effort to show that three-year-olds can be this flexible, and discovered that they were only able to lower the performance of four-year-olds.

Lisa Harms ’03 and Dr. David Osgood of the Biology Department traveled to the Hudson River in New Jersey for their project, "Effects of an Invasive Marsh Plant on Breeding Success by Fish Species." The pair’s findings suggest that Phragmites australis affects a marsh to the point that larval and juvenile fish are forced to live off the marsh surface and in creeks. Harms and Osgood note that further analysis and data is needed to make a final conclusion.

Courtney Pederzani ’04 collaborated with Dr. Patricia Snyder of the Psychology Department on the qualitative research project, "Gender Role Strain in Women Across Generations." The project involved interviewing daughters, their mothers, and their maternal grandmothers to determine how one population of women (white, middle-class women living in the Berks County area) is dealing with the changing social definitions of women's roles.

New Chaplain Appointed

Albert D. Mosley, Th.D. has been appointed the new chaplain and director of the Multi-faith Center at Albright College.

Among his duties as chaplain and director of the Multi-faith Center, Mosley will nurture the spiritual life of all constituencies of the College, support the diverse religious communities in their celebrations, and foster attention to human values in the liberal arts. He will also be Albright’s liaison with the United Methodist Annual Conference.

Mosley comes to Albright from Duke University in Durham, N.C. where he served as assistant dean of the chapel and director of university religious life.

Mosley has served a number of distinguished churches throughout the nation, including pastorates at churches in Mississippi, North Carolina and Connecticut.

Prior to his appointment at Duke, he served as organizing pastor/developer of a multi-racial/multi-cultural congregation in Jackson, Miss. In addition to his responsibilities with New Church Ministries, Mosley also served as adjunct faculty at Millsaps College in Miss.

Mosley is the recipient of numerous awards including the Millsaps Humanitarian Award, the Bishop’s Medal given by the United Methodist Church for meritorious service to church and society, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Brother of the Year Award. He is a member of the board of trustees for the Methodist Children’s Homes of Mississippi, Caring House, a comprehensive cancer care facility in North Carolina, and Millsaps College.

Mosley holds a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Millsaps College, a master of divinity degree from Duke University and a doctorate of theology from Yale University.