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Associate Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin presented her work "The Determining Number of a Cartesian Product" at a special session on Product Graphs at the 6th Slovenian International Conference on Graph Theory at Lake Bled, Slovenia. Boutin's recent work focuses on finding a smallest set of nodes that captures all the symmetries in a network. In this talk Boutin surveyed work in the area, gave her recent results, and suggested a new topic for research.

Mathematics professors Dick Bedient and Sally Cockburn presented a talk titled “The Hamilton College Senior Seminar” at the Summer Meetings of the Mathematical Association of America in San Jose, California. The talk was part of a session called “Getting Students to Discuss and to Write about Mathematics.”

When he started his research this summer, Hilary Masuka '09 (Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe) wanted to study the migration between Zimbabwe and South Africa and the experiences of the thousands of people who have risked their careers to cross the South African border. Masuka quickly recognized this topic as too broad for a summer's work and focused his research on the migration of medical personnel from Zimbabwe to South Africa and the effects this movement has had on the health sector, the society, and the economy of both countries.

"It's so refreshing to work in a division where everyone is friends," said Chelsea Mann '09 (Chevy Chase, Md.) of her summer internship. Mann's stories of a relaxed atmosphere, however, disguise the competitive nature of her internship: Mann was one of only 16 students selected to serve as a 2007 intern with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). She spent her summer working in Washington, D.C. as a marketing intern with the NAHB at their publications arm BuilderBooks.

Members of Hamilton's Class of 2011 arrive for orientation on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The five-day orientation will include opening ceremonies, an address by Hamilton President Joan Hinde Stewart, advising sessions, academic information sessions as well as a new student-faculty picnic, kickball tournament, a dance party and Big Prize Bingo. President Stewart will preside over the ceremony that officially opens Hamilton's 196th academic year with Convocation on Sunday, Aug. 26.

Luce Junior Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies Chris Vasantkumar delivered a paper titled "Tibet as Incidental to Tibetan Studies?: Views From Various Margins" at a plenary session of the First International Seminar of Yung Tibetologists held at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies from August 9 to 13. The seminar's participants hailed from China, India, the United States and various European countries.

An article by Associate Professor of English and Assistant Dean of Faculty for Diversity Initiatives Steven Yao appears in the latest issue of the journal Representations (Summer, 2007). Yao's article, "Toward a Prehistory of Asian American Verse: Pound, Cathay, and the Poetics of Chineseness," examines the various terms -- tonal, rhetorical, thematic and formal -- by which Ezra Pound sought to present Chinese poetic culture and identity in his renowned collection of translations. This article is part of Yao's current book project, "Foreign Accents: Chinese American Verse and the Counter-Poetics of Difference in the U.S., 1910-Present." Representations is a publication of the University of California Press.

"My grandfather's experience as a white officer in a black munitions unit in the U.S. Army during World War II was pivotal in shaping his beliefs about the importance of integration and equality," explained Julia Stahl '08 (Salem, Mass.).

"I am often asked the following question: 'Why are you a comparative literature major if you want to go on to become a human rights activist?'" Keya Advani '08 opened her Emerson grant proposal with this statement. Subsequently awarded the grant, Advani set out this summer to explore the potential of literature as an increasingly important vehicle of protest and social change as seen in the contemporary writing of the Indian Dalit community.

An essay titled “My Liberal Arts Education,” by Eric Kuhn ’09 is the top feature article on the home page of mediabistro.com and the third in a new series titled “J-School Confidential.” In his article, Kuhn articulates his reasons for deciding to attend a liberal arts college over a journalism school despite his goal of joining the industry upon graduation.