Inside SSA A group of students passionate about research has been working tirelessly to make this year’s Science, Society and the Arts 2025 conference an event to remember. 

By Kelsey Goodwin
March 18, 2025

“I think in running the conference, we wanted to create an exciting and unique theme, but ‘unlikely pairings’ is more so a description of what runs deep through W&L, which is pretty special.”

~ Gabrielle Ursin ’25

This Friday, Washington and Lee University students can look forward to a day of interdisciplinary scholarship and dynamic presentations from their peers, all thanks to the hard-working student committee behind Science, Society and the Arts (SSA) 2025.

SSA takes place every two years and invites students to present on research they’ve conducted during their time at W&L. The conference aims to foster interdisciplinary learning and showcase the breadth of research at the university. The event is overseen by Matthew Loar, director of fellowships and student research, who began talking with students and faculty after 2023’s SSA about an executive leadership team that would plan the 2025 event. This year marks the first year that SSA has been entirely student-run. Loar has advised the executive leadership team throughout their planning process, offering suggestions and encouragement as they’ve taken the reins. Loar said he only gave the group two “must-haves” for this year’s event.

“I told them I wanted to see unlikely pairings,” Loar said, “meaning surprising, interdisciplinary ideas from a wide cross-section of campus. And cupcakes.”

Classes are canceled for the day so that the entire student body can attend the full slate of presentations, and cupcakes from local bakery Cupcake Heaven will be available for attendees and presenters along with other offerings from local restaurants. The SSA planning committee — Stephanie Dücker ’26, Connor Lafo ’26, Gabrielle Ursin ’25 and Abby Leo ’26 — are looking forward to the culmination of their efforts.

Dücker, SSA’s committee chair, began talking with Loar about creating a student-run planning committee for the event almost immediately after giving a presentation on early Tudor women at SSA 2023. Dücker, a history and chemistry double major from Nashville, Tennessee, said the group began building excitement on campus for SSA in fall 2024 by offering an information session to educate students about academic research and the process for applying to present at SSA.

Leo, a biochemistry major and religion minor from Norton, Massachusetts, serves as the committee’s communications chair, organizing outreach and tabling events. Leo said she is excited to see group presentations of capstone projects.

“These students have been working hard on their research for a long time, and I know it will be rewarding to share it with the rest of the campus,” said Leo, who organized tabling outside of Elrod Commons alongside a social media campaign in the weeks leading up to SSA to promote the event.

Ursin, an Earth and environmental geoscience and philosophy double major from Byram, New Jersey, said her own academic journey is an example of unlikely pairings. Ursin arrived at W&L with the goal of becoming a philosophy major. She only began developing an interest in science after taking a geoscience course simply because, she said, she thought she would enjoy the opportunity it provided her to be outside more. Ursin, who is also a member of W&L Student Consulting, first learned about SSA when Loar reached out to the organization to conduct research on the structure of SSA, tasking them with market research to determine what kind of format and speakers appealed most to students. As academic chair of SSA, Ursin was tasked with coordinating presenters and ensuring a diverse range of disciplines were represented. After applications were finalized, the SSA team hosted a gathering on March 5 for conference presenters to meet, mingle and get a sneak preview of the range of presentations and poster sessions that will comprise the event.

“I think in running the conference, we wanted to create an exciting and unique theme, but ‘unlikely pairings’ is more so a description of what runs deep through W&L, which is pretty special,” Ursin said. “I think it would be harder to have a conference that didn’t have unlikely pairings, given the range of interests and how our curriculum is set up to explore multiple different things during your time here.”

The group is looking forward to introducing SSA’s keynote speaker, chef and cookbook author Carla Lalli Music, to campus. Lalli Music will be speaking in University Chapel at 5 p.m. on March 20. Her talk will address the impact of artificial intelligence on content creation as she shares her journey from the kitchen to becoming the food director of Bon Appétit magazine, starting a podcast and creating her own YouTube channel.

“Her talk is bringing in all these different elements that are particular to modern careers, addressing being an influencer and also a chef,” Dücker said, adding that the team also liked the play on words when thinking about “unlikely pairings” in the context of the culinary world.

Lafo, SSA’s finance and operations chair, said the format for this year’s event is meant to create juxtapositions in students’ minds that ignite their curiosity.

“The format is very conducive to building up yourself as a learner, as someone who pursues knowledge,” said Lafo, a North Port, Florida, native majoring in biology and East Asian languages and literature.

“That’s the liberal arts dream, right? To encourage students to pursue questions that are interesting to them and see where it leads,” said Loar, adding that he is looking forward to seeing the range of disciplines represented in the day’s schedule of presenters.

Kaitlin Silva ’26 and Jessie Zhang ’26 will be presenting on research they conducted last summer with Dücker that incorporated the research of Genelle Gertz, associate dean of strategic initiatives and Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English. The group created data point maps depicting women’s physical networks of communication in the 1700s, including letters, poetry and other written material. Silva, a history and English double major from Fall River, Massachusetts, said during their research, the group used quantitative and qualitative data and wrote about it in ways that combined different disciplines.

“We were learning a lot about the field of digital humanities,” Silva said of her research experience, “the intersection between mathematical and scientific methods of research and qualitative data, and we were experimenting with some different ways visualizing data.”

Augusta Weaver ’26, an Earth and environmental geoscience major and studio art minor, will be presenting on her installation and art exhibit, “Magnitudes of Earth,” featuring 12 paintings of what are called “thin sections” of rock or minerals as seen from a microscope. Each painting was created for an Earth and environmental geoscience professor and depicts a rock or mineral of their choosing. The paintings were originally displayed in Wilson Hall’s new Tiny Gallery. Nicholas Barber, inspired Weaver to begin the project and will provide more scientific expertise on the paintings during the presentation.

“After completing the first one, I just knew I had to do one for each professor,” said Weaver, who will also present on a six-week independent research project she completed last summer examining the impact of tourism on coral reefs and local communities in Panama.

Student presenters said they look forward to their SSA experience generating new ideas and connections. Ryan Anderson ’27, a pre-med and politics major from Atlanta, is presenting on an AI-powered health platform he built that uses AI to assess patient risk factors.

“I hope to connect with other students and alumni who have an interest in AI and medicine, which is a rapidly growing field,” Anderson said.

Students interested in participating in SSA 2025 without presenting can attend SSA’s book club session, hosted in collaboration with the Office of Lifelong Learning and featuring the Tom Wolfe Weekend Seminar book, “Night Watch,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Jayne Anne Phillips. Advanced registration is required.