Ten Hamilton students traveled to Montreal to participate in the McGill University Model United Nations Assembly (McMUN), which convened January 26-29.  The conference drew more than 1,300 delegates to fill 25 different committees that focused on international relations in the Information Age.

Associate Professor of Psychology Jen Borton, students Sam Briggs '12 and Beril Esen '13, and former Hamilton Professor Mark Oakes presented two posters at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in San Diego in January. Their posters were titled Defensive Self-Esteem and Self-Awareness and Unforgettable: Autobiographical Memories of People with Defensive High Self-Esteem.

Over winter break 15 students from Hamilton’s Model European Union club — as well as faculty advisor Alan Cafruny, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs — attended the 25th annual EuroSim conference in Wroclaw, Poland, from Jan. 5-8.  Each year, the EuroSim conference presents a different topic relating to European policy; the topic of this year’s conference was European asylum policy and the development of a common European asylum system.

Two Hamilton students have been selected as recipients of the Class of 1979 Student Travel Award. The award, established by the alumni of Hamilton’s Class of 1979, offers financial assistance to outstanding students who wish to pursue extensive research projects in different parts of the world.

Four Hamilton students have received grants from the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund. The recipients, all seniors, are Shawon Akanda, Nathaniel House, David Hyman and Haley Riemer-Peltz.

The total number of students on Hamilton’s campus may be smaller than an entire graduating class at big research universities, but that doesn’t mean Hamilton’s research opportunities are any more limited. In fact, as Matthew T. Farrington ’12, Diane Paverman ’13, Spencer Gulbronson ’12, Peter Lauro ’12 and alumnus Sam Hinks ’11 are discovering, research at Hamilton is just as engaging as it can be at large universities. The students are working with Professor of Computer Science Stuart Hirshfield to determine if computers can recognize the unique “signature” of a user’s brain.

Students enrolled in government 219 and 221, both taught by Visiting Instructor of Government Andy Milstein, got a feel for such slow-moving and hard-earned developments  in Congress during a weeks-long simulation of the legislative process. The experiment ended on Nov. 29 with a meeting to present and vote on the bills that the students designed.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale, Associate Professor of Geoscience Dave Bailey, Professor of Anthropology Tom Jones,  Catherine Prescott ’12, Elizabeth Scholz ’13, recent graduate Nick Stagliano ’11 and Chelsea Lewis ’13 published their article titled “pXRF: A study of inter-instrument performance” in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Hamilton was well-represented as 12 students presented the results of their research at the New York 6 Undergraduate Research Conference this month at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.

As Hamilton’s only Senior Fellow in the class of 2012, Keomanisod Xiong ’12 will spend this academic year researching efforts toward gender equity in the Hmong-American community. She will complete a project titled “Hmoob-Meskas: Two Clashing Perspectives on Gender and the Implications of a Hmong Feminism in a Hmong-American Community,” with the help of advisors Anne Lacsamana, associate professor of women’s studies and Professor of Anthropology Bonnie Urciuoli.