In What We Mourn: Child Death and the Politics of Grief in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Lydia captures an unfolding public reckoning, one where the scale of child mortality and human grief leads to a new culture of bereavement that shapes views about the role of the state as protector of rights, of children and others.

Colette Salyk, Associate Professor of Astronomy, secured funding through the Space Telescope Science Institute for the study of planet formation with collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Amitava Kumar, Professor of English, is author of the recently published The Social Life of Indian Trains (Aleph Book Company, 2025), part of Aleph’s “Essential India” series.

Kelli Duncan, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Academic Resources and Professor of Biology on the Patricia Shoer Goldman-Rakic ’59 Professorship Chair, is serving as the scientific mentor for Daniel Tobiansky’s Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) Proposal Development Grant. She is providing hands-on mentorship for a project examining the spatial distribution of unique woodpecker tau (MAPT) transcript variants in woodpecker and songbird brains.

Paul Kane, Professor Emeritus of English, recently released “Intimations” (Modern Sounds, 2025), a music and poetry recording with the avant-garde jazz ensemble The String Trio of New York, led by guitarist James Emery.

Carl Elsaesser, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Film, was awarded a 2026 Creative Capital Award for his feature-length, untitled film project that uses footage from the past decade to shape a coming-of-age narrative. Blending video diaries, ethnography and fiction, Carl’s film follows Ellis, a queer boy documenting his family’s frustrations and emerging sense of self.