Palah Light Lab congratulates two of our graduating Light Labbers: Awa Sow and Andrea Pagan. We are grateful for all the work and research they contributed to the lab. Their presence will be missed as they move forward into the post-Buffalo beyond. 

Awa Sow graduates this May with a BS in Biological Sciences. Awa’s interests are in queer and film studies, and she worked on several related projects over the course of the semester. First, she facilitated the planning and visit of Alex Juhasz and Kat Chairs for their screening and talk, “Metanoia: Aids, Women, Incarceration and Video Activism,” as part of Buffalo’s PLASMA series. Awa also helped research the finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards, for which PLL founder Margaret Rhee was a judge this year. 

Andrea Pagan will defend her thesis project this August for her MFA in Media Study. She specializes in physical computing and installation work. 

In the lab, she applied her expertise to helping update and re-install “The Kimchi Poetry Machine,” a 2014 tangible-computing project by Margaret Rhee. Andrea also worked on compiling grant research and helping to research funding sources for the future of Palah Light Lab.