Russia and Turkey occupy a significant portion of current global news as the rest of the world analyzes the trajectories of these countries. Most scholars focus on the socio-political landscapes of the two while disregarding cultural and literary studies. Such a top-down approach fails to consider the profound identity crises...
The physical structure of chromatin has recently emerged as a key contributor to genome regulation and cellular function. Chromatin packing dictates the conformation of the 2-meter-long DNA polymer within the ~10 μm cell nucleus. This conformation can influence gene function by regulating the accessibility of molecular regulators to DNA, altering...
Pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGGs) are aggressive pediatric CNS tumors and an important subset are characterized by mutations in H3F3A, the gene that encodes Histone H3.3 (H3.3). Substitution of Glycine at position 34 of H3.3 with either Arginine or Valine (H3.3G34R/V), was recently described and characterized in a large cohort...
In this thesis, we consider the categories of sheaves with singular support on certain Lagrangians and the categories of microlocal sheaves with support on certain Lagrangians obtained by microlocalization, and study properties of functors between these categories.First, we study one class of the microlocal restriction functor for open inclusions, namely...
In my dissertation, I explore the connection between economic history and political economy in three ways.Chapter 1, studies the effects of a postal program in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century and its role in increasing access to higher education. Chapter 2, co-authored with Alexey Makaring and...
Social networks play a crucial role in developing economies. One of their most important functions is facilitating the flow of information, particularly about the efficacy of new technologies. This dissertation explores three aspects of this research agenda. First, I study how economists can estimate the structure of a social network...
In this paper, I analyze a piece of music that I wrote called The Health, a 90-minute musical ceremony that comprises speech, action, video projections, costumes, lights, chant, song, recomposed hold music, diagnostic exams, and renaissance magic. I wrote the piece for Mocrep and myself to perform, the initial run...
This dissertation reconstructs North and South Carolina Lowcountry plantation waterfronts as a means of better understanding mobility, inequality, and human-environment interactions in the antebellum Lowcountry. Using a theoretical framework of hydrosociality, the author undertook archaeological and archival research to investigate the question: how did the built environment of navigable waterways...
Colloidal crystals engineered with DNA are fascinating structures that constitute an emerging form of programmable matter. Indeed, the use of DNA as a programmable bond has led to thousands of new crystal types, with exquisite control over crystal symmetry and lattice parameters. However, synthesizing large (> 100 µm) single-crystals has...
In the United States, those who have lower income, education level, and occupational prestige, are more likely to develop, have worse symptoms of, and die from a wide range of chronic diseases. This phenomenon prompted much research trying to delineate the underlying pathways, and inflammation has been highlighted as a...