Humans of Hanover 2023

“I see myself helping folks who have been incarcerated by ensuring that they have access to quality education.”

A Student Leader Takes On Education Inequality

Anthony Fosu ’24

he/him/his

Hometown: Keyport, NJ

Major: Government; Minors: Public Policy & Human-Centered Design

“Dartmouth’s mission is to raise student leaders who are the best in their fields and are really passionate about their work, then send them out into the world to help solve the issues our communities are facing,” says Anthony Fosu ’24. “For me, that comes in the form of addressing inequalities in education.”

Anthony’s mission is informed by his experiences as a firstgeneration college student and public high school graduate. He also held an internship in the Family and Criminal Court division of the New Jersey Courts. There, he saw firsthand how a conviction for a nonviolent offense can severely limit a person’s access to jobs, loans, and quality education.

Through the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Social Sciences’ First-Year Fellows program, which places Dartmouth students with alumni mentors in policy internships in Washington, D.C., Anthony spent the summer after his first year interning at the U.S. Department of Education. He learned how the federal government distributed relief aid to students and colleges during the pandemic and helped determine organizations’ aid eligibility.

Anthony’s view of educational policy was further transformed when he took ENGS 12: Design Thinking with Assistant Professor of Engineering Rafe Steinhauer. “I fell in love with design thinking because the whole premise behind it is that, through design, we can create the world we want to see,” Anthony says.

After graduation, Anthony plans to attend graduate school and one day become a lawyer or education advocate.

The average scholarship for a member of the Dartmouth Class of 2026 is $67,127—an amount that equals 80% of the total cost of attendance.

What distinguishes Dartmouth?

Certainly, its profound sense of place amid the dizzyingly of a liberal arts college and a robust research university. community. And don’t forget the famously buzzing

But what exactly makes Dartmouth…Dartmouth? The the Humans of Hanover, and you’ll meet several of them Dartmouth “type,” and that’s exactly the way we like

dizzyingly tall pines of New Hampshire. Definitely its fusion university. Absolutely its adventuresome spirit and welcoming little college town in which it sits—Hanover.

The people, of course. We affectionately call them them here. One thing you’ll notice is that there is no like it.

“Surrounding yourself with so many different people who have achieved so much and are brilliant inspires us to challenge one another in different ways.”

A Rower Finds Ballast in Her Teammates

Jessna Brar ’24

she/her/hers

Hometown: Chandigarh, India

Majors: Economics and Mathematics

Jessna Brar ’24 never saw herself competing on the varsity heavyweight rowing team until a friend mentioned that the team needed a coxswain, the person responsible for steering the boat. “I said to myself, ‘Why not give it a shot?’” she recalls. “I joined the team and haven’t looked back since.”

Now, Jessna counts her teammates among her strongest supporters on campus. She also supports them by representing them on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “When I go to the library, I’ll always find a teammate to study with,” she says. “When I go to the dining hall, I always find a teammate to eat with. If you need anything, someone is always there for you.”

An economics and mathematics double major, Jessna has her sights set on law school or a master’s degree in data science. For now, she’s diving into Dartmouth’s liberal arts curriculum to explore her fascination with history. During her sophomore summer, she received funding from the Undergraduate Advising and Research Office (UGAR) to conduct research with Associate Professor of History Paul Musselwhite. The project: analyzing newspaper and land records data from Saint Kitts and Nevis to investigate the plantations of the colonial British Empire. She and her professor hope to uncover patterns in how estates were named with respect to size, location, and the presence of enslaved people.

Though Hanover is more than 6,000 miles from her hometown of Chandigarh, India, Jessna says the strong bonds she has forged at Dartmouth have left her feeling more inspired than homesick, and have helped her “become the best version of myself.”

Dartmouth practices universal need-blind admissions and has a commitment to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need.

“Dartmouth just because learning that The College opportunities with faculty

—Professor Fossum

A Student and Professor Harness Quantum Computing to Combat Climate Change

Katherine Lasonde ’23 she/her/hers

Hometown: Winnetka, IL

Major: Engineering Physics; Minor: Computer Science

Katherine “Kat” Lasonde ’23’s research with engineering professor Eric R. Fossum combines Kat’s interests in quantum computing and climate change with Professor Fossum’s groundbreaking quanta image sensor technology, which enables high-quality digital imaging in low-light situations.

Why is quantum computing such a groundbreaking field?

Kat: Quantum computers are really good at simulating molecules and molecular structures. They have the potential to simulate different types of carbon neutral or carbon negative molecules that can help the environment.

Professor Fossum: The goal is to investigate whether the quanta image sensor technology, which originated in my lab, might be useful for quantum computing readout of qubits. Those are the memory storage bits for quantum computers. Kat is creating an experiment that shows that the use of the quanta image sensor technology—because of its super low-light sensitivity—makes for better readout than standard camera technology.

Kat: Because quantum computers aren’t yet powerful enough to simulate molecules that help counteract climate change, my plan is to work on building those computers. After graduation, I hope to work in the quantum computing industry and one day earn my master’s in environmental science or environmental technology.

60% of Dartmouth students engage in research—often funded by a deep well of campus resources.

is outstanding not because of the experiential that happens here. College also offers students opportunities to work closely faculty members.”

Fossum

“My thinking about the mural was utterly transformed by my students, by the questions they ask, and by the way they interact with the mural.”

An Art Historian from the Midwest Finds Meaning in a

Mexican Masterpiece

Mary Coffey she/her/hers

Professor of Art History

Affiliated Faculty, Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Program

When taking a class with Professor Mary Coffey, expect to visit “The Epic of American Civilization,” a sprawling twenty-four panel mural and National Historic Landmark painted in the 1930s by Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco on the walls of Dartmouth’s Baker Library.

Professor Coffey, the College’s resident expert on the mural, describes the sweeping artwork as “expansive in its sense of time, geography, and history.” Its contrasting panels are rich with “radical moments of possibility,” painting a history of North America rooted in Mesoamerican civilizational achievements and their legacies.

Professor Coffey studied modern Mexican visual art in graduate school. “Growing up in Indiana, I was about as far from Mexico as one can be, psychologically, intellectually, and to some extent geographically.” A visit to a local Latin American art exhibit changed everything.

Professor Coffey also finds enormous value in the perspectives of her students, several of whom are cited by name in her book “Orozco’s American Epic: Myth, History, and the Melancholy of Race.”

Orozco’s mural has as much to offer Dartmouth now as it did in 1934, Coffey says. “It’s an object that reminds us that this College has many histories,” she says. “Feeling like you belong at an institution has a lot to do with where or how you see your personal story intersecting with the institution’s history and values.”

Students receiving need-based financial aid pay the same net price for a term on a Dartmouth off-campus study program as they would for a term in Hanover.

“I want to make a statement that on this campus your accent, your variations, your identities are more than welcome—they’re celebrated.”

A

Double Major Expands His Worldview

Arturo Serrano Borrero ’24 he/him/his

Hometown: Panama City, Panama

Majors: Mathematics modified with Public Policy on the Applied Mathematics track; Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages modified with History

Double majoring opened up Arturo Serrano Borrero ’24’s world— as did modifying both of those majors, a process that enables students to combine courses from related areas of study to investigate a specific problem or topic.

“It’s the best feeling,” he says, “when you can make connections among topics in public policy and education and later measure what you’re learning in your linear algebra class. When you’re able to make those connections, you have a more complete understanding of how the world works.”

Through Dartmouth’s liberal arts curriculum, Arturo has explored connections between seemingly disparate disciplines. He’s also discovered an interest in Korean history, particularly within the late Chos n dynasty, a time when “a huge influx of foreign influence was coming into Korea for the first time after it had been relatively isolated from the West.”

This January, Arturo began a James O. Freedman Presidential Scholarship—which provides students with funding for research assistantships with Dartmouth faculty—to study artistic and cultural exchanges of objects and artworks in premodern Korea with Associate Professor of Art History Sunglim Kim.

Outside the classroom, Arturo serves as a peer tutor in Dartmouth’s Research, Writing, and Information Technology Center (RWIT), where he helps support non-native English speakers and multilingual students.

A vibrant global community, Dartmouth is home to students from nearly 100 countries speaking over 90 different languages.

“I think any student can do research at Dartmouth. I’m also amazed by the amount of money and funding that Dartmouth gives students to do research.” —Jose

Drawing on Computer Science and Biology to Ease the Pain of Diabetes Treatment

Jose Hernandez Barbosa ’23 he/him/his

Hometown: Oak Lawn, IL

Major: Computer Science

Together, Jose Hernandez Barbosa ’23 and Associate Professor of Computer Science Xia Zhou are working to develop a medical device that measures glucose levels with light sensors.

Tell us more about the medical device you’re developing and why you’re miniaturizing it.

Professor Zhou: Our goal is to design a noninvasive method for measuring the glucose levels of diabetic patients using laser light. When you shine light on the skin and measure the reflection of the light—as well as the changes in its properties—you can use it to infer the glucose level under the skin. We built a prototype last year that Jose has been helping scale down into a smaller and more wearable device.

Jose: Yes, and I’ve been working on the interaction between patients and the sensor itself using a mobile app. I’m getting real life experience working with Professor Zhou in ways that I never thought I could. This research project has allowed me to see a bunch of new ways to connect computer science to the real world. Last summer, I had a software engineering internship at Google. After graduation, I’ll probably go into software engineering before potentially applying to graduate school.

Dartmouth does not include loans as part of the financial aid award created to meet a student’s demonstrated need, regardless of income or citizenship status.

Dartmouth College

Office of Undergraduate Admissions

6016 McNutt Hall

Hanover, NH 03755

“Dartmouth is one of only seven colleges or universities in the United States that practice universal need-blind admissions paired with a commitment to meet 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated need.

It is a dramatic commitment to making college accessible, equitable, and attainable for all students, regardless of citizenship.”

Lee Coffin, Vice Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

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