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Anna Arnn ’17 is taking her studies in archaeology into the field this summer as part of a program through the University of Montana Missoula. Through the project Arnn will be working with UMM graduate student Matt Walsh, performing faunal analysis, or the study of animal remains in the context of archaeology.

Paula Ortiz ’18 is taking a shot this summer at an endeavor many professional filmmakers never undertake, let alone rising undergraduate sophomores: crafting a documentary. Ortiz is pursuing this project, titled Textile Patterns and Social Structure: Recapturing the Artistic, Historic and Cultural Legacy of Otavalo, with funding from an Emerson Summer Collaborative Research Award and Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald as her advisor.

Computer science majors Jason Fortunato ’17 and Linnea Sahlberg ’17 are attempting to improve upon expensive biometric technologies this summer through a research project titled Remote Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy. Working under Stephen Harper Kirner Chair of Computer Science Stuart Hirshfield, their research is focused on the creation of relatively unintrusive alternatives to Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) equipment, utilizing lasers to operate remotely instead of the common skin-contact reliant systems of traditional equipment.

While students, faculty, staff and visitors to Hamilton know that the Mohawk Valley is a beautiful and engaging place to live, another striking feature of the area is its position as a cultural and ethnic melting pot, thanks in large part to the City of Utica’s diverse refugee and immigrant populations. Tanapat Treyanurak ’17 is spending his summer continuing work related to Project SHINE, a program dedicated to assisting in the incorporation and assimilation of immigrants and refugees into local communities, through a Levitt Center grant.

Onwaniqua Heard ’15 is going to find herself back in the classroom more quickly than most recent graduates: this time, however, she’ll be the teacher, not the student. Heard will be entering the Greenwich Country Day School’s Co-Teacher Program this fall, a program that “gives co-teachers a chance to work with children of different ages and to broaden their professional experience.”

Amber Torres ’16 is familiarizing herself with the basic economic and political logistics of urban planning this summer through a research project titled “Selling the City.” The project represents “an analysis of the complex relationship between real estate, consumerism and the middle/working class market” and will be undertaken through means of data collection, interviews and site observation. 

Nejla Asimovic ’16 is returning to the country of her birth this summer to study the history and ongoing effects of sexual violence in the context of war. Asimovic, a native of Sarajevo, the largest city in the Balkan nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is undertaking a research project titled Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls: A Weapon of War? under the advisement of assistant professor of government Gbemende Johnson. Asimovic is one of four Hamilton students this summer whose research is funded through the Kirkland Endowment’s Summer Associates program.

In today’s environmentally conscious academic climate, there has been a significant amount of attention paid to the destruction caused by industry to the planet. However, this summer Hamilton students Samantha Mengual ’16, Zoe Tessler ’16 and Daniel O’Shea ’17 are researching a less frequently considered potential cause of decreasing biodiversity: invasive exotic species. Their research is under the advisement of Associate Professor of Biology William Pfitsch, and is focusing on the Alliaria petiolata plant, more commonly known as garlic mustard.

Katherine (Katie) Guzzetta ’18 is spending her summer in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, studying Propithecus edwardsi, a lemur native to the island nation. Madagascar is famous for the endangered creatures, primates that look  like a cross between a cat,  squirrel and dog. Guzzetta, an intended biochemistry major, is undertaking this research under Dr. Patricia Wright, head of Centre ValBio and professor at Stony Brook University. 

While thousands of scientific articles are published annually, relatively few attract the attention of the general public. The gap between what is understood by scientists and what is common knowledge to the public is the focus of a research project being undertaken by Mary Langworthy ’17 in a project titled “Where Geology Meets Literature: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Science Writing,” funded through the Emerson Foundation.