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With a well-known commencement speaker who holds controversial views, Hamilton may have anticipated a bit more national media attention to the event than in past years. What was not expected was additional focus on the dean of faculty.

The Hamilton College Chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, initiated 13 members of the Class of 2016 to associate membership before the annual dinner in the Taylor Science Center Atrium on May 20. Family members in attendance enjoyed a program of observations by mentors about the students, their research and student plans to continue in research.

In his address at Hamilton’s commencement, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel told the Class of 2016, “At this time in your life you know fewer limits, fewer taboos and fewer fears than you ever will in the future. So do not squander your ignorance! Go out and do what your teachers and parents thought could not be done, and what they never thought of doing,” he urged.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Adam Van Wynsberghe presented an invited seminar titled “Development of a multi-scale sampling methodology to examine the favored ligand binding pathways of influenza neuraminidase” at Union College on May 12.

Tsion Tesfaye ’16 has been selected to attend the Human Ecology Lab & Island Odyssey  (HELIO program) in Japan this summer. The HELIO Program is crafted to include top change agents from around the world, selected through the Ashoka University network. Hamilton College was recognized as an Ashoka Changemaker campus in 2014.

The work of 13 Hamilton College senior art majors will be featured in an exhibition at the  Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, May 5-21. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 5, from 4 to 6 p.m. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Recording artist Janis Siegel P’16 was on campus April 29 to conduct a jazz vocal workshop for students. The event was sponsored by the Fillius Jazz Archive in recognition of Jazz Appreciation Month.

Laura Becker ’16 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan. A Chinese major at Hamilton, she studied in Beijing during her junior year.

The Oral Communication Center hosted the second annual Three Minute Thesis competition on April 30. Open to all members of the senior class, the competition offers cash prizes for the students who can most effectively summarize their senior projects in three minutes or less. This year’s competition hosted 15 students whose majors and interests ranged from post-colonial economics to concussion management for athletes.

Zoë Bodzas ’16 was recently named winner of the annual Kathryn Irene Glascock Intercollegiate Poetry Contest at Mount Holyoke College. Founded in 1924, it is the oldest intercollegiate poetry competition in the country and has launched the careers of many of America’s most important poets.