Justin and Annie presented at the POPMEC International Conference of US Cultures in Alcala de Henares, Spain, birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes. The conference theme was how the US's frontiers and border shape its self-conception.

Justin's paper, "The Borders of Play: Simulated Borders and Real Politics in Video Games," looked at simulations of the US-Mexico border in popular and activist video games, measuring digital text's capacity to create empathy, make political arguments, and engender action in the player. 

Annie presented "Osiris Appalachia: Geographic and Aesthetic Border Crossings in Muriel Rukeyser's the Book of the Dead," which discussed how Rukeyser blends documentary and lyric poetry to evoke the possibility of justice for the miners killed in the Gauley Mountain mining disaster. 

They were each separately awarded a $1000 International Travel Award through International Programs.