Faculty Research Reaches Global Stage
Over a dozen recent major scholarly publications and presentations underscore the deep and varied intellectual commitment of Washington College's faculty.
Washington College faculty are demonstrating global scholarly leadership with a new wave of publications and presentations, spanning microbiology, finance, mathematics, philosophy, and history. Leading the charge is research from the Department of Chemistry, which has garnered international media attention for its potential impact on agriculture and apiculture.
Bacteria from Bee Hives Could Lead to New Global Antimicrobials
Daniel May, assistant professor of chemistry, achieved widespread recognition this month for his peer-reviewed paper, “Endophytic Streptomyces from Honeybee Hives Inhibit Plant and Honeybee Pathogens,” published in Frontiers in Microbiology. The paper was picked up by media wires and highlighted by over 30 outlets worldwide, including publications in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
This research, which May started while a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin and brought to Washington College in 2022, focused on isolating actinobacteria from plants and bee hives.
"We isolated this beneficial bacteria, which is well known to produce antimicrobials from plants and bee hives," May explained. "These bacteria, regardless of where they were isolated from, had many things in common. They were closely related to known plant-isolated bacteria, shared characteristics that would allow them to live inside plants, and produced similar antimicrobial compounds. They were also capable of inhibiting the growth of both plant and honey bee pathogens."
The findings suggest that these actinobacteria are a promising source of new antimicrobials that could treat both crop and honey bee diseases. May traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August, to present his findings in a talk titled "Endophytic Streptomyces Inhibit the Growth of Honey Bee Pathogens" at the American Society of Pharmacognosy's Annual Meeting.
Several collaborators joined May in completing the paper in previous years, including David Estes '24, a chemistry and history double major and an active campus beekeeper who joined the project two summers ago, funded by the Toll Summer Research Program. Estes worked in the lab to isolate and culture bacteria collected from the campus hives, extract the antimicrobial compounds, and develop a bioassay to test the compounds against highly destructive honeybee pathogens like American foulbrood. Estes is now in a PhD program at the University of Utah.
Diverse Publications and Global Presentations Highlight Faculty Scholarship
In addition to May, the breadth of Washington College faculty scholarship has been reflected in recent months with a strong cohort of publications, book releases, and conference presentations spanning the globe. Including:
Andrew Oros, professor of political Science and international studies, announced the release of his new book, “Asia's Aging Security: How Demographic Change Affects America's Allies and Adversaries,” published by Columbia University Press in August. Oros has been sought out for commentary by numerous national outlets including TIME for his research in this area. He delivered invited book talks on the work this past June at the Japan Foundation headquarters in Tokyo and the European University Institute in Florence.
Bin Song, associate professor of philosophy and religion, published the chapter “Quiet-Sitting Meditation: A Philosophical Practice in the Cheng-Zhu Learning of Pattern- Principle,” in The Routledge Companion to Chinese Philosophy (Routledge, 2026). He also reviewed the book Lure of the Supreme Joy... in the Journal of Chinese Studies and was featured in the Journal of Contemplative Studies’ "Author Insights” interview in July where he discussed Confucianism and contemplation.
Maria M. Vich, associate professor of business management and international studies, presented her paper “Random Preferences, Truncated Distributions, and the Pricing Kernel: a note” at the 31st Annual Conference of The Multinational Finance Society in Platanias, Crete, Greece, in July this past summer. Co-authored with Luiz Vitiello from the Essex Business School in the United Kingdom, the article develops a novel asset pricing model where risk aversion is random and has a truncated-normal distribution.
Aaron Krochmal, associate professor of biology, published a paper in the journal Animal Behaviour entitled, “Cue Relevance During Navigation is a Function of Scale and Experience.” The work, which investigates how learning and experience impact the value of global and local navigation cues, was co-authored by alumnus Nathan Simmons ’18, demonstrating Washington faculty's commitment to continuous collaboration with their graduate community.
Elena Deanda, professor of Hispanic and Black studies, was busy on the international conference circuit early this year, teaching a class at the University of Oviedo in Spain as part of her appointment as a Fulbright Global Scholar, and presenting two papers in Spain, including "La hija de Celestina and the Business of Seduction" at the CELPYC 2025 Conference in Santander, and "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction in Colonial Yucatán" at the 2025 Letras de America Conference in Oviedo. She also presented her book Trovar in Barcelona in July and, more recently, in September, she gave a paper entitled "Embodying the Archive in Inquisitorial Scholarship" at the 2025 Roman Congregations in the Early Modern World Conference in the University Suor Ursola Benincasa in Naples, Italy. Deanda's most recent publication is "Women, monsters, and abortions in Privilegios de las mujeres preñadas by Villanueva y Lara (1790)," published in June 2025 by Bulletin Hispanique, an academic journal at the Université de Bordeaux, France.
Dylan Poulsen, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, authored and article titled "How to Cut an Onion Optimally: A Love Letter to the Jacobian," which was accepted for publication in Mathematics Magazine, an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality, original expository research. Poulsen’s work on this culinary skill has been cited numerous times in the past year by others, including in articles appearing in The New York Times, The Pudding, and in publications as far as Vietnam, Germany, and Romania.
Ben Tilghman, associate professor of art and art history, published the peer-reviewed essay “Looking At and Through Language: The Visuality of Text in Early Medieval England,” in Studies in Iconography 46 (2025), a key journal in his field.
James Hall, associate professor of English and director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House, had a poem, "Inheritance at Corresponding Periods of Life, at Corresponding Seasons of the Year, as Limited by Sex," appear in three anthologies: Best American Poetry 2025 (Scribner), The Pushcart Prize L: Best of the Small Presses, and in Best of the Net 2025 (online). New poems appeared in Plume over the summer, and three new essays are appearing in the Fall 2025 issue of Copper Nickel. Another new essay Hall penned was accepted by Another Chicago Magazine.
This recent slate of work has a vast global footprint, with major contributions presented or published across the United States, Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, UK), and Asia (Japan), alongside international media pickup in Germany and the Middle East. Whether solving applied science problems with beneficial bacteria, connecting philosophy and meditation, analyzing global security trends, or even exploring the optimal geometric method for cutting a vegetable, these faculty are engaged in high-level, impactful, and often interdisciplinary research that brings the world's knowledge directly into the Washington College classroom.
To learn more about our the latest research and publications from our accomplished faculty visit the departments page and explore their backgrounds.
- Dominique Ellis Falcon