Technological literacy is an invaluable personal skill in the information age, one that can open doors and allow individuals to escape the cyclical pattern of urban poverty. Chip Larsen ’13, Ana Baldrige ’12 and Paige Cross ’13 are spending their summer as Levitt Fellows with Associate Professor of Anthropology Chaise LaDousa on a project called “New Literacies for an Old City,” a reference to the social and economic landscape in the city of Utica.

Sustainable, organic farming offers a fresh, local alternative to supermarket foods. However, some people might find it difficult to shop locally, and low-income individuals may have trouble affording farm shares and local food. Lauren Howe ’13 is working to correct both problems as an intern for Grow Food Northampton in Northampton, Mass.

Theresa Allinger ’11, a geosciences major, presented a poster on her senior thesis research “Antarctic Deep Sea Corals as Paleoceanographic Proxies for Warm Water Upwelling” at the recent International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences held at the University of Edinburgh. Her participation was supported by the J. W. Johnson Family Professorship stipend and the National Science Foundation through Eugene Domack, the J.W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences.

In today’s digital age, print media has become something of a dying art form. Across the world, newspapers have lost distribution, book sales are down, and it’s harder than ever before to get published. This summer, Emerson grant recipient Catherine Boyd ’12 will seek to get back in touch with the origins of the book as art as she works with Professor of English and Creative Writing Naomi Guttman to write, design and print her own book.

Stan Brakhage is one of the most significant avant-garde filmmakers in the 20th century. His influence can be seen across genres and decades. This summer, Emerson grant recipient Marty Cain ’13 is exploring the aesthetic philosophy of Brakhage and its relation to contemporary poetry.

Campus slows down markedly during the summer months, with only about 10 percent of the student body remaining, conducting research with faculty or working at jobs in various offices. Three Hamilton students, Christine Roback ’12, Helen Higgins ’13, and Bobby Finan ’13, are working tirelessly alongside Director of Outdoor Leadership Andrew Jillings and Director of Outreach and Orientation Amy James in preparation for the August arrival of more than 200 first-year students participating in Hamilton’s pre-orientation programs.

After working on several real estate deals, earning her license and starting her own company, McKenzie Foster ’14 is well on her way toward building the real estate career she wants. Her wealth of experience, detailed plans for the future, and dedication to her goals promises to build a bright future for this rising sophomore.

The formation of a synapse, the junction between nerve cells, is one of the most the most important and critical stages of nervous system development, and in many cases improper synapse formation is the underlying cause of neurological disease.  The Lehman Lab has discovered a new gene that appears to encode an enzyme that is expressed as synapses develop in invertebrate and vertebrate nervous systems. This summer four students are working to synthesize four different enzymes to explore the function of this novel gene product.

A law degree can lead can lead to countless career paths, but regardless of a student’s goals, a district attorney’s office offers an exciting environment in which to learn about the legal field. Ephraim McDowell ’12, a sociology major with a minor in communication, is spending his summer with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office in Canton, Mass., working with one of the assistant district attorneys.

Sarah Fobes’12 presented a poster at the International Conference on Luminescence, held in Ann Arbor, Mich., June 26- July 1. Her poster was titled “Post-annealing immersion study of sol-gel silicate glasses containing rare earth dopants.”