Eye on the East: How a research project inspired a more global perspective

An honors program sealed the deal for North Carolina native Kate Langsdorf when she was considering where to attend college.

“I didn’t know research in the humanities could even be an option for me my first semester,” she says. “The Source Project really showed me how much I love researching.”

The Source Project is one of the few programs in the nation that offer first-year students research experiences in the humanities and social sciences. Students admitted into this undergraduate honors program (based on their application to Binghamton) choose from a variety of research “streams” such as Debating Basic Income and Human Rights. In all streams, students work one-on-one with faculty and fellow students to learn how to evaluate information and draw evidence-based conclusions.

Langsdorf, a junior majoring in Asian studies and PPL (philosophy, politics and law), enrolled in the Thinking Through Painting stream.

“What drew me to Thinking Through Painting was that it seemed fun and new. I had done many research papers in high school but being able to leave behind the feeling of thinking I need to be good at something right away helped me,” she explains. “At times, I felt I asked stupid questions that my peers knew because they had more of an art history background; it wasn’t always the most comfortable thing. But I learned so much more about art and the research process because I was willing to go out of my comfort zone.”

Langsdorf’s project was to analyze a painting hanging in the Binghamton University Art Museum. She chose “West Coast,” a piece created by Japanese immigrant James Suzuki; when she received the file, it was slim. Her research greatly expanded that file and her paper is now part of the museum’s permanent collection.

“I decided to look at why we didn’t know more about him and other painters like him. I looked at this larger narrative of the role cultural connections played in developing these new and modern art styles that had been underplayed in favor of creating American modern art,” she says.

She’s made her mark in other ways, too. Langsdorf was chosen to speak about her research on the transmission of Buddhism’s effect on women in Korea at a SUNY Oneonta philosophy conference; she is also a Pell Honors Program student in the Philosophy Department.

Her passion for Asia made winning the Critical Language Scholarship Spark (CLS Spark) — a prestigious national award through the U.S. State Department — especially rewarding.

“The program fosters Americans who can speak languages important to U.S. security and business interests,” she explains. “I’m going to be using the scholarship to begin my study of Mandarin, which will be instrumental as I move on to graduate school and begin to work with Korean history, since many older records are in Classical Chinese and Mandarin.”

Langsdorf will also leverage the experience for her future; she plans to earn a doctorate in Asian studies and become a professor.

Her ambition knows no bounds, but Langsdorf still makes time to enjoy a few hobbies. She is the assistant manager for Binghamton Sound Staging and Lighting, a student group, and also the general manager of the campus radio station, WHRW.

“The other day, a listener called in and told me when he listened to my music it made him feel better and more excited about his day,” she says. “I’ve been riding on that high knowing that doing what I enjoy is also making other people enjoy themselves.”