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.

In our busy, cosmopolitan society, it's almost impossible to avoid fast food. Whether you see a McDonald’s every day when driving to work, stop in at Dunkin Donuts before school, or see a commercial for Sonic on TV during your favorite primetime show, fast food is seemingly ubiquitous. At Hamilton, Lauren Howe ’13 and Eunice Choi’14, however, are trying to make the transition from the fast food era toward a new, sustainable style of eating and living.

On September 21, students in Hamilton's New York City program visited the Barclays Capital building for a discussion hosted by Hamilton alumni George Mack ’93 and Alexandra Leighton ’09. Barclays Capital, located on 49th Street and 7th Avenue, is one of the world’s premier investment banks.

Seven Hamilton students—trip leaders Pat Dunn ’12 and Leonard Teng ’12 along with Makenna Perry ’12, Leslie Cohen ’12, Lucas Harris ’12, Marco Scheuer ’13 and Max Lopez ’15—were part of a Hamilton Outing Club (HOC) backpacking trip last weekend that tackled two of the Adirondack High Peaks: Algonquin Peak, the second highest mountain in the state at 5,115 feet, and Iroquois Peak, the eighth highest at 4,843 feet.

A combination of social oppression, poverty and discrimination has kept Mayan women in Guatemala from raising their voices and using their full potential. Deaf women in particular are stripped of their rights and made to believe that they have no worth. This summer Mariela Meza ’13 interviewed Guatemalan women in the highland community of Nahuala in an effort to prove that they can be valuable contributors to their community. Meza’s work was funded through an Emerson Summer Grant.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Nicole L. Snyder and Christopher J. Boisvert ’12 recently published a chapter on the Hantzch Reaction in Named Reactions in Heterocyclic Chemistry II, one of the books in Jie Jack Li’s Named Organic Reaction series.

Nick Richards ’12 was a member of a research team whose article, “CTCF-binding elements mediate control of V(D)J recombination,” was recently published in Nature, an international weekly science journal. The article presents the results of work conducted at the Departments of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital/Immune Disease Institute.

Not to be outdone by HAVOC and its Make a Difference Day, the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG) took a trip on Sept. 10 to the Sterling Nature Center on Lake Ontario to participate with other local activists in Sterling’s annual Beach Clean-up Day.

Martin Cain ’13 was able to do something this summer that many professional writers twice his age can only dream about.  He was selected to attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, sponsored by Middlebury College, in Ripton, Vt.  Participants must apply and be accepted, and attend as either nonfiction, fiction or poetry writers. Cain attended the poetry section and was the youngest poet at the highly selective conference. This year there were 1691 applicants for approximately 200 spots.  Bread Loaf has been called the “oldest and most prestigious writing conference in the country” by The New Yorker.

“What are you thinking?” That question, voiced or simply pondered, is a common query considered by most of us from time to time. Austin Walker ’12 spent most of his summer posing similar questions to Kenyan youth. Specifically he was focused on uncovering what young people view are the most pressing issues facing them and their country. Walker worked with Professor of Government Steve Orvis with funding from a 2011 Levitt Research Fellowship Grant.