Dixon Fellows Program

Andrew Pyle

Exploring Cultures of the World Through Food

From rice and beans to dumplings, every culture has foods that are foundational to understanding life within that culture. Our Dixon Fellows study cultures of the world through shared culinary experiences – Fellows will gather in our home and learn about cultures together while eating a meal traditional to that culture. We meet once per month. Ahead of each meeting, I will provide a prompt and students will use that to find out something about the culture we are studying. Fellows will come to the meeting with something to share with the

Alec Pappas

Adulting 101: Financial Literacy

Students will learn the basics of financial literacy, exploring topics like cost of living, budgeting, investment risks, home ownership, different investment accounts (e.g., 401k, Roth IRA / IRAs, HSAs), and behavioral finance.

John DesJardins

Hands-On Design and Entrepreneurship

Do you have an idea, invention, or product that you have always wanted to make, develop, or market? In this two-semester Dixon Fellows program, we will explore and experience the invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship process. We will meet weekly or bi-weekly to learn, experience, and enjoy each other’s ideas and progress. We will develop and refine your idea, we will make it, and we will pitch it at local competitions for real cash.

Not ready for the stage? No worries; we will also help others in the program do the same and contribute to the innovation and entrepreneurial network on campus and in the community.

Ishani Banerji

Winning Isn’t Universal: Cultural Scripts of Competition on Global Reality TV

Netflix recently stated: "Is love truly blind? The answer, as we’ve learned over and over again, is yes — but it’s complicated. [...] The pods aren’t about place. The pods are about an experience."

Is this true? Does competing with other people in order to find a soulmate look the same regardless of whether the people are Brazilian, Arabic, or Swedish? And does every competitive reality TV show - from cooking to modeling - end up being the same regardless of which country the competitors are from?

We will be using research in social psychology and marketing to explore how we express and understand emotions, and how producers create content that would appeal to audiences. Students will work in small groups with each group focused on a specific category of competitive reality TV—such as cooking competitions, dating shows, talent contests, or survival-based formats. Within each group, students will watch and analyze versions of their genre from at least three different cultural contexts.

Each group will investigate how competition is structured, judged, and emotionally experienced within their genre. Who is rewarded—and for what? How do contestants express ambition, conflict, or vulnerability? Do the producers frame the narrative arcs within the show in terms of individuals seeking personal success, or navigating relationships? We will explore research that will provide a framework for interpreting what we observe on screen, transforming entertainment into a form of comparative cultural inquiry.

Andres Arce

Ancient Materials, Lasting Lessons: Preserving Historic Structures

How did ancient builders create structures that have lasted for centuries, and what can we still learn from them today? This fellowship explores historic construction materials and techniques used in antiquity, comparing their strengths and limitations with modern materials and methods.

Through discussions of building pathologies, failed repair approaches, and proven preservation strategies, students will learn how existing built heritage can be studied, repaired, and protected using thoughtful, evidence-based conservation practices.

David Foltz

The Book Club

Study both fiction and nonfiction texts of shared interest, practicing critical analysis through both open and guided discussion with an aim toward application in meaningful personal and interpersonal development. Previous semester books have included Steinbeck’s masterpiece, East of Eden and Yevgeny Zamyatin's seminal We, the original "dystopian" science fiction novel prefiguring Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World.

Thackston Crandall

Learning to See: Place, Memory, and the Built Environment

How does the built environment shape the way we live, move, and relate to one another, and what gives a place lasting meaning?

This Dixon Fellows program studies the relationship between people and the places they inhabit. Drawing from design, history, and the humanities, we will consider how spaces influence experience, behavior, and memory. We will also examine how design reflects broader social forces, asking who shapes the built environment, whose experiences are prioritized, and how access and belonging are structured through space. Local environments will serve as an extension of the classroom, providing sites for observation and discussion while fostering a shared experience and sense of connection.

This discussion- and workshop-oriented program centers on collaboration and creativity. Readings, film, and guest speakers will frame our conversations while leaving room for exploration. Fellows will approach place through research, observation, and creative work, experimenting with new ways of seeing and interpreting the built environment.

Emily Scribner

Why Natural Disasters Happen: What Went Wrong and Why It Matters

This program is centered on natural disasters, risk perception, and the factors that cause certain natural events to become particularly devastating natural disasters for specific communities. We will begin by examining natural disasters and risk more broadly.

Humans are often poor at assessing risk; many of us live in areas that are likely to be impacted by natural hazards, yet we do not fully consider this when deciding where to live. A substantial body of research explores how people perceive risk, with some scholars describing it as an “experiential attitude,” in which personal experience plays a dominant role. Throughout the experience, we will return to the question of how risk is perceived by individuals, communities, and decision-makers, and how these perceptions shape disaster outcomes by examining specific natural disasters that have occurred around the world.

MinJae Woo

Unlocking Clinical Insight in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

This group introduces students to the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in clinical settings, with a focus on extracting meaningful insights from unstructured medical text such as physician notes. Students will investigate the mechanisms underlying AI hallucinations during clinical information extraction and explore strategies to improve the reliability and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. To support this work, each student will have access to high-performance computing resources provided through the generous support of CCIT.

James Gaubert

Ethics, Sustainability, and Marketing: A Film Club

This Dixon Fellows program explores the topics of ethics, sustainability, marketing through the lens of cinema to see how filmmakers’ interpretation critically manifests themselves in movies.

The films selected for viewing and discussion demonstrate a range of genres (drama, science fiction, documentary, comedy, etc.). We will view the selected film between sessions and be given a list of guiding questions to consider when or after viewing the film. In group meetings, we will share reflections, thoughts, and critical assessments for discussion with the entire group.

Potential films could include Wall-E, The Mission, Blackfish, Fyre Festival: The Party That Never Happened, A.I., Food Inc., The Big Short, The True Cost, Thank You for Smoking, among others.

Sara Crocker

C.S. Lewis Book Club: Exploring the Genres of C.S. Lewis

Famed Christian apologist, philosopher, author, and scholar of medieval literature, C.S. Lewis (CSL),  published works across 17 different genres. Some of those genres include fairy tales (e.g. The Chronicles of Narnia), novels (e.g. ’Til We Have Faces), science fictions (e.g. The Space Trilogy), apologetics (e.g. Mere Christianity), and philosophy (e.g. The Abolition of Man). In this Dixon Fellows program structured as a book club and discussion group, students will assist in choosing which CSL texts the class reads and discusses. The instructor will also arrange for guest speakers to join our class and share how CSL’s work has influenced their lives both personally and professionally.