Current Program
The Emerging Scholars Series is a partnership between the Arts & Sciences Graduate Center at William & Mary and the Williamsburg Regional Library. The series features W&M graduate students and postdocs in talks hosted by the WRL intended to bring cutting-edge research to the local community. View the WRL's Emerging Scholars Series webpage.
Emma Macturk, Chemistry: "Advances in Forensic Chemistry for the Courtroom"
October 2, 2024, 2 p.m., Stryker Center
Forensic chemistry analysis is essential in criminal evidence analysis and court proceedings. This includes the use of fingerprints to identify suspects. Incomplete prints, called fingermarks, are often not useful to identify individuals, but a new chemical technique shows promise in understanding their composition. This technique separates compounds found in sweat and generates visual data useful when presenting forensic evidence to a jury. In this talk by Emma Macturk, master’s student in chemistry, learn the science behind forensic analysis that could decide outcomes of criminal investigations.
Justin Estreicher, History: "Complex Histories: American Archaeology and Indigenous Heritage"
November 7, 2024, 2 p.m., Stryker Center
Between the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries, white perceptions of Native Americans’ relationship to landscapes of antiquity changed dramatically, from the acknowledgment of Native stewardship of indigenous sites to academic arguments for legislation to protect "ruins" from Native vandals. This shift reflected a growing skepticism of full indigenous membership in the nation that reverberates to the present. In this talk, Justin Estreicher, doctoral candidate in History, will explain how promoters and practitioners of archaeology historically excluded Native stories from both their discipline and the national narrative.
Tamia Haygood, History: “Motherhood and Self-Emancipation among Enslaved and Servant Women in Colonial Pennsylvania”
February 20, 2025, 2 p.m., Stryker Center
In the eighteenth century, enslaved and servant women fled from coercive labor arrangements for a variety of reasons: to circumvent laws that punished women for illegitimate children, to be near their young and adult children in other areas, and to give birth as free women. In this talk, Tamia Haygood, history doctoral student at William & Mary, will describe the tactics used by women fleeing bondage in colonial Pennsylvania, as well as the ways their motivations related often to motherhood and familial obligations.
Jay Jolles, American Studies: “Contemporary Fiction and the Millennial Novel”
April 9, 2025, 2 p.m., Stryker Center
Contemporary authors such as Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Ben Lerner are exemplars of an emerging genre of American literature: millennial fiction. These books capture the ethos of a generation. In this talk, Jay Jolles, doctoral candidate in American Studies at William & Mary, will describe the development of contemporary American fiction from the emergence of avant-garde modernism into the present moment. Learn about the evolving narrative strategies and thematic concerns that define the millennial novel within contemporary American literature.
