All News

Geoscience students Natalie Elking ’12 and Manique Talaia-Murray ’12 conducted summer research related to sediment cores from Antarctica.  Elking is working on the organic geochemistry (carbon and nitrogen isotopes) of sub ice shelf sediments and Talaia-Murray is conducting a radiocarbon dating project using microfossils. 

Associate Professor of Biology Mike McCormick presented the results of a multi-year research project conducted at Green Lakes State Park at the national meeting of American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans, May 21-25.

In a small lab on the second floor of the Science Center, two identical-looking vials of specimens sit side by side, waiting to be processed. But although the samples may appear to be the same, they were collected from almost opposite sides of the Earth: Green Lake in Fayetteville, N.Y., and Antarctica’s Hughes Bay. Working under Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick, Libby Pendery ’10 and Agne Jakubauskaite ’13 are using similar methods of analysis on samples from two very different locations to  detect and classify the species of microbes that are present at different depths.

More than 30 scientists from 11 states and four countries, led by Hamilton College Geosciences Professor Eugene Domack, will embark in January 2010 upon one of the most complex interdisciplinary Antarctic expeditions ever funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). During the two-month trip the scientists will be addressing a significant regional problem with global change implications, the abrupt environmental change in Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf System. The expedition is part of the NSF’s International Polar Year (IPY) program.

Meromictic lakes are stratified like layers of cake. They are interesting biological case studies because their surface and bottom waters never mix, and their sediments often date back thousands of years. One example of a meromictic lake is Green Lake located in a New York State Park just east of Syracuse. It was the first lake in North America to be classified as such, and scientists began recording data on it as early as 1839. Sean Linehan ’10 and Elizabeth Pendery ’10 are studying the biological diversity of Green Lake this summer with Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick.

The LARISSA team met at National Science Foundation for a Principal Investigators meeting on May 5 and 6 in Washington, D.C. LARISSA is a National Science Foundation-funded initiative that joins an international, interdisciplinary team together to address a significant regional problem with global change implications, the abrupt environmental change in Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf System. Lead Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Director Eugene Domack, the J. W. Johnson Family Professor of Environmental Studies, and Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick attended along with several representatives from National Geographic Magazine.

Eight Hamilton College faculty members were approved for tenure by the College's Board of Trustees during their recent meeting. The Board granted tenure to Heather Buchman (music), Jennifer Irons (sociology), Masaaki Kamiya (East Asian languages and literatures), Katherine Kuharic (art), Mike McCormick (biology), Tara McKee (psychology), Kyoko Omori (East Asian languages and literatures) and Sharon Werning Rivera (government).

Hamilton College is participating in the International Polar Year (IPY) via Larsen Ice Shelf System – Antarctica (LARISSA), a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded and Hamilton College supported initiative. The program has been launched and has established a Web presence. LARISSA brings an international, interdisciplinary team together to address a significant regional problem with global change implications.