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All of us remember learning about recycling in school. We are taught to recycle plastics as much as possible, but how much plastic do scientists give back to the industry? Diana Di Leonardo ’10 (Malverne, N.Y.) asks this question in her research this summer. Concentrating on the recycling of plastic from cell and molecular biology labs, Di Leonardo and her faculty collaborator, Professor of Biology Jinnie Garrett, will research just how much is recycled in the workplaces of those who tell us to recycle.

At first glance, one might be jealous of the summer plans of Emily Smith ’09 (Ridgefield, Conn.): she is researching celebrities. But it’s not actually autograph-chasing in Hollywood; instead, the world politics major and art history minor student has a Levitt Center Fellowship to study the role of the Western celebrity as a social entrepreneur, with an emphasis on those celebrities active in the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.

“It’s actually facilitation,” Jenney Stringer '08 (Manlius, N.Y.) said of her summer fellowship work. “I’m facilitating a garden.” Rising senior Stringer has been awarded the Community Service Fellowship, one of the two Levitt Summer Civic Engagement Fellowships. She will be working with Judith Owens-Manley, associate director for community research, on a project to create and facilitate a community garden in Utica.

It was not your ordinary job interview. Michael Viveiros '08 (East Greenwich, R.I.) was chatting with his counselor in the Career Center and mentioned he had some experience with computer-based presentations. He was subsequently hired by the center to produce podcasts for their Web site.

This is “an investigation into various questions of perception and understanding,” wrote studio arts and English major Erin Shapiro '08 in her February proposal. Four months later, she has an Emerson grant to work on a sculptural exploration of natural elements, concentrating on the relationship between art, materials and audience reaction. She will work with Assistant Professor of Art Rebecca Murtaugh.

Some people start their summer research with an experiment, but Geoffrey Hicks '09 (Newton Mass.) preferred to start with a more abstract problem: the relationship between shame and spirituality and the African American experience. A dual major in English and African Studies, Hicks came to his topic through the plays of August Wilson and this summer takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the complicated issue of blackness in America.

One night last November, Max Currier '10 (Manlius, N.Y.) was thinking about his summer plans. It occurred to him at 3 a.m. that maybe he could get funding for his hobby of researching the current government and political situation; "regardless of what I did, I was going to be reading up on the war anyway," he thought. Later that year, he was awarded an Emerson Grant to research the Bush administration's actions regarding the War on Terror. Through extensive reading and analysis, Currier hopes to address the behavior of the Bush administration through the lens of Bush's key ministers.

Summer didn’t turn out quite as expected for Tamim Akiki ’08. The native of Lebanon had planned to go home for the summer and evaluate the objectives of the central bank as part of his Levitt research on the role of a central bank in a small open economy. Then came mid-July and Akiki found himself in a war zone between Israel and Hezbollah.

“I’ve always been thinking about this sharp transition from the traditional big family to the ‘124 family’ (one child, two parents, four grandparents),” said Xin Wang ’09 of her Levitt summer research project. Advised by Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, Wang spent her summer researching Chinese single children from different socioeconomic backgrounds with a special focus on their consumptive patterns.

Tumelano Gopolang ’08 (Orapa, Botswana) spent her summer chasing money. As an intern with the Trinity University Haiti Program in Washington, D.C., Gopolang researched the uses and delivery of economic aid pledged to Haiti in 2004.