#22: Afghanistan and the Taliban with Ethan Sandweiss ’19, History

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Our host, Amelie Andreas ’24, speaks with Ethan Sandweiss ’19 about his thesis on Afghanistan entitled “Highway to Hell: Afghanistan, America, and the Fragmented State.” Since this episode concerned recent events, this interview focuses a little more on the content of the thesis, and a little less on the experience of writing the thesis, than our interviews usually do. It is also a little bit longer than most episodes.

Learn more:

#21: Micro to Macro with Mahalia Dryak ’20, Environmental Studies

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Frank Tangherlini ’22 talks to Mahalia about her thesis on microplastics, macroinvertebrates, and fresh water river systems in the Pacific Northwest. Reed’s Environmental Studies program is an interdisciplinary major which requires students to select a focus in one of five disciplines: biology, chemistry, economics, history, or political science.

Reed community members can read Mahalia’s thesis, “The Ubiquitous Pollutant: Measuring microplastics and ecosystem health along the Clackamas River, OR,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#20: Sexual Politics in Argentina with Dashiell Allen ’21, Spanish

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Dashiell’s thesis exploration of sexual politics in Argentina in the 70s and 80s begins by examining a publication called Somos, an underground magazine published by what was likely the first lgbt political organization in Latin America. Dashiell also talks about what it was like to graduate Reed as a “spring/fall senior” (students who graduate in the fall instead of in the spring as most Reed students do).

Reed community members can read Dashiell’s thesis, “From Somos to Prosa plebeya: A Discussion of Sexual Politics in Argentina,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#19: Deducing the Indeducible with Rowen Bangs ’20, Philosophy/Math

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Frank interviews Rowen about a thesis year like no other. Rowen’s thesis experience explored some arguments about the epistemology of mathematics, or, as Rowen puts it, it was “a philosophical argument that used elements of mathematics.” Rowen touches on Gödel’s Theorem, Peano Arithmetic, and related theories.

Reed community members can read Rowen’s thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive, which includes a short preface on the usefulness of epistemic thought in times of great crisis.

Summer 2021 Announcement

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Burn Your Draft is taking a break for the summer and will be back in fall 2021 with our new student producer and host, Amelie Andreas ’24. We’ll have a bunch of interviews with ’21 grads to share, as well as a couple more from the class of 2020. We want to give huge thanks to our outgoing producer, Frank Tangherlini ’22. We could not have done any of this without you Frank!

#18: Tiny Machines with Kate Stoll ’04, Biochem and Molecular Biology

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Kate Stoll ’04 reflects on her thesis work on ScaR proteins with Arthur Glasfeld, Margret Geselbracht Professor of Chemistry, and her fascination with proteins, the “tiny machines that do all the work in your body.” This was Frank’s first interview for the podcast and took place in-person in January 2020. Kate’s thesis title: “The DNA and metal ion specificity of ScaR, the Streptococcal cell adhesion protein regulator of ‘S. gordonii.'”

#17: The Dizzying Math behind Spin Chains with Nate MacFadden ’19, Math/Physics

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Nate is smiling and wearing plastic laurels with a white flower, and standing on Reed campus, with a dorm building in the background.

Join Seth Paskin ’90 as he interviews interdisciplinary Math/Physics graduate Nate MacFadden in Fall 2019 on his research into just how predictable quantum phenomena like spin chains really are. Don’t worry if that’s already got your head spinning, because this episode’s packed with a lot more than just math: from the hard and soft skills of thesising, to why your high school job might matter more than you think.

#16: “Alexa, Who Are You?” with Libby O’Neil ’19, MALS

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Frank interviewed a recent MALS grad, Libby O’Neil ’19, about her master’s thesis, “‘A Voice and Nothing More’: Technological Embodiment and the Artificial Female Voice.” Libby is a graduate of Reed’s only graduate degree program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, often referred to as the MALS degree. Libby used Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant as a primary text for part of her thesis, and used Alexa, in part, to examine some ways we use technology in our daily lives.

Learn more about Reed’s MALS program.

Reed community members can read Libby’s thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#15: Queer Intimacy in Media with Saga Darnell ’20, Theatre/Dance

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Frank and Saga discuss Saga’s thesis, “Our Beds Are Islands: Creating Queer Intimacy Through Physical Theatre In The Age Of Streaming Media”, which included a theatre performance in the fall.

If you’d like to hear more from Saga, check out this TEDx event from January 2020 (referenced on the podcast).

Reed community members can read Saga’s thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#14: Wholesale Electricity Markets with Mitzi Zitler ’19, Economics

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Mitzi with friends, wearing plastic laurels and stylized sunglasses, smiling.

Seth Paskin ’90 interviewed Mitzi Zitler ’19 back in fall of 2019 about her thesis work investigating the wholesale electricity market in Oregon, and some of its interactions with California markets. Mitzi’s thesis title: “Econometric analysis of real-time wholesale electricity prices at major west coast trading hubs”.