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Some students enroll at Hamilton undecided as to their academic path; others know exactly what track they want to pursue. Olivia Surgent ’17 is in the latter group.  She’s been interested in neuroscience, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), since middle school when she began teaching swim lessons to children on the spectrum. This summer Surgent is advancing on that path as an intern at the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior in Madison, Wisc.  The center specializes in understanding neurological functions of children with developmental disorders such as ASD.  

This summer Anna Arnn ’17, an archaeology concentrator, took her research from last year a step further. Under the advisement of Nathan-Goodale, Arnn studied faunal remains and animal bones that were collected during a previous field trip.

Two Hamilton College students won first and second prize in the Wilderness Writing Contest sponsored by the Adirondack Council this spring.  They were selected based on letters to Gov. Andrew Cuomo in which they expressed reasons why the state should expand the High Peaks Wilderness Area. 

Pat Reynolds, the Stone Professor of Natural History, spent July 1 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. helping with outreach for International Polychaete Day.

This summer, computer science concentrators Sindy Liu’18, Eseosa Asiruwa’18, Mitchel Herman’19 and Matthew Goon’18 are doing research with machine learning on outputs from various sensors. The research project is directed by Stephen Harper Kirner Chair of Computer Science Stuart Hirshfield.

Claire Han ’19 is working this summer as a software development intern at Resource Systems Group (RSG) in White River Junction, Vt. RSG, Han explained, is “a consulting firm that offers services in transportation planning, market strategy, and custom software development.” Han, who is a prospective computer science major, aims to learn as much as possible about different aspects of software development. As an intern, Han said every day is a bit different, and she’s working on a variety of projects. Some of her work includes translating code, while other days she attends department meetings or participates in training. This means she gets to learn not only about software development, but about consulting.

Colleagues in the Hamilton College chapter of Sigma Xi recognized service provided by a retiring senior member during the recent initiation dinner at commencement. Professor of Biology Sue Ann Miller has been a member of the society for 44 years since she was inducted as a graduating student having published a book and participated in scientific meetings and panels. Continuous active membership for decades has made her a sustaining member.

Ernest Williams, the William R. Kenan Professor of Biology emeritus and lecturer in biology, co-authored a letter that will be presented to the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico when they meet for the North American Leaders’ Summit in Ottawa on June 29.

Over the past decade, bees have been dying and colonies collapsing in unprecedented numbers, posing a threat not only to the bees themselves, but to the many crops they pollinate. Scientists are still working to understand all the factors that pose risks to bees. This summer, Andre Burnham ’18 and Fiona McLaughlin ’19 are contributing their own research to this important question by comparing the fitness of locally raised queen bees and queen bees imported from California.

Andy Chen ’16 has a short-term plan and a long-term plan. He’ll spend a semester studying biotechnology at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan, then launch a cell phone-based health and education service in Kenya with Leonard Kilekwang ’16.