Here are all the exciting things we have accomplished and learned this year!
Seneca Humphries, Eva Synder, and Annie Kate Walsh presented at James Madison University’s annual College of Arts and Letters Undergraduate Research Symposium in March! The presentation was titled “Feminist Approaches to Researching the Gendered Microbiome in a Qualitative Lab” and included an overview of the Lab’s foundational ideas and praxes, explanation of the personal, professional, and research skills we gain, and a brief survey of our current research projects.
They presented once again at the Department of Sociology & Anthropology Research Symposium in April in front of departmental staff and professors, allowing them to practice presenting and fielding questions from academics in the field.
Annie Kate graduated with her Bachelors of Art in Anthropology in May 2025 and went on to work as the Conservation Outreach and Communications Fellow at the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley.
Dr. Howes-Mischel and Dr. Tracy presented the paper “Calculating the Gendered Microbiome” on a panel about corporeal quantification for the Society for the Social Studies of Science Conference (4S) in July (but only Dr. Howes-Mischel got to go to the conference in Amsterdam!).
G&SEL Alumna update! Former labber, Cheyenne Sewell, graduated this past spring with a Master of Public Health from New York University. Cheyenne interned at the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health (among other research opportunities) as part of their research and evaluation team. She had the opportunity to lead an evaluative study as part of their Healthy Mama House Calls program. We love to see Cheyenne using and developing qualitative research skills she first encountered as a labber. Congratulations, Cheyenne!
New Publications:
2024 Howes-Mischel, Rebecca and Megan Tracy “Interembodiment beyond kin: Leveraging partibility within microbial FemTech” Social Science and Medicine About how FemTech companies are trying leverage microbiome research to make new consumer products to address gender challenges. As part of a special issue focused on “interembodiment,” the piece goes back to classic theory to make sense of these emergent tech projects. Undergraduate students in the Gender and Science Ethnography Lab helped collect and analyze data presented in the article.