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Anoop Pandey '10 is responsible for distributing the famed "golden bikes" for free student use on campus, but the part of the globe he's studying certainly isn't accessible by bike. This summer, Pandey is using remote sensing to study unusual fold structures along faults in the Western Desert of Egypt. He is working with Upson Chair for Public Discourse and Professor of Geosciences Barbara Tewksbury. 

Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic known as "Mississippi Mud" among chemists. Researchers 50 years ago attributed the nickname to Vancomycin's dark brown, cloudy, and generally infectious appearance. The scientists noticed that it demonstrated strong anti-microbial properties. Originally extracted as a natural product, Vancomycin was widely used when other antibiotics were no longer effective. 

Evin Adolph '10 never thought her major in Hispanic studies and minor in biology would overlap. Now she knows that Spanish speakers can turn up anywhere, even at a company like Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS). Her internship there this summer is affiliated with the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Jason McGavin '12 and Matthew Baxter '11 understand that a peptide's structure can say a lot about how it functions in the body. This summer, they are studying two versions of the peptide Piscidin – Piscidin 1 and Piscidin 3. They will work alongside Associate Professor of Chemistry Myriam Cotten, whose previous work in this field has illustrated that there is a distinct difference between them. 

Deborah Barany '11 and Anthony Sali '10 describe motor control in a way that would remind a listener of flip-book animation. An action consists of smaller, partial movements, that when assembled together and in the right fashion, trigger the complete maneuver. Similarly, flip books rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion of fluid motion, when in reality, they are just discontinuous images stapled together.

In mid-sentence, Professor of Biology Ernest Williams interrupted his thought to comment on a bird that caught his eye: "Oh, there's a yellow warbler – male, yellowy, with chestnut stripe on the breast," he observed. Seeing Williams in his element is like reading an interactive encyclopedia – Williams talks animatedly about nature and the creatures that inhabit it, such as painted turtles, blue herons and Canada geese. He is conducting what is called a "BioBlitz" this summer with Carly Andrascik '11, an environmental studies major.

When Courtney Flint '11 was five years old, she learned what it was like to be a colonial American. Her aunt belonged to a group called Past Masters whose members dress in period clothing and resurrect the behavior, skills and lifestyles of Americans during the Revolutionary War era. Flint joined her aunt in these activities and watched the battle re-enactments that were often popular attractions. The raucous canon blasts and trim uniforms intrigued Flint, and as she grew older, she began to wonder about the relationship between the soldiers and the citizenry. 

During the last Ice Age, the whole country of Iceland was covered in a thick sheet of ice. From an aerial view, most of the island would have appeared to be in a state of frigid serenity. But under the ice, chaos ensued – massive volcanoes entombed in the ice erupted often, causing the overlying ice to melt. As the hot lava erupted into cold water, explosions occurred, depositing fragmented rock and glass with few lava flows.

Sokhna Aminata Diop '11 says it feels unusual to wear a suit and United Nations badge every day. In fact, she never once thought she would get the summer internship that she did – working for the UN was only a dream.

"I like rocks," said Manique Talaia-Murray '12 with a bashful grin. It might sound like a dull pursuit, but to Talaia-Murray and her research partner, Travis Tomaselli '11, rocks can uncover the past in interesting ways. They say that the chemical contents of a rock reveal a lot about its previous whereabouts, and their collaborative research project is a perfect example.