Student Research

Last fall, Nate Goebel ’15 realized that he wasn’t satisfied with the way he read plays and decided to improve his reading of what happens between the lines of dialogue. In an Emerson Foundation Grant project titled “Apocalypse at Dinner: A Creative-Minded Study of Anton Chekhov’s Craft,” Goebel will immerse himself in the plays and short stories of Anton Chekhov and will ultimately adapt one of the author's stories into a short play, developing a first-hand knowledge of playwriting.

Eugene Domack, the Joel W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences, and 18 Hamilton College students left June 7 for a three-week field course to Australia and Tasmania. Three flights and 30 hours later the group landed in Cairns, a city located on the coast of Northeast Australia. Read about their trip and see photos here.

The world of technology is changing at a rapid pace and new materials need to be utilized to make further advancements.  Rare earth metals are in a strong position to be more widely used for various applications, ranging from small electronic devices to large television screens. Laura Rivera ’16 and Catherine Oglevee ’15 are working with terbium and europium, two rare earth metals, this summer to understand their fluorescent properties.

There’s no shortage of media coverage when it comes to China’s booming economic sector.  Reforms dating back to the 1970s have launched China’s economy on a trajectory that was unfathomable 40 years ago.  Now that the country has established industrial and financial infrastructures, it is looking for ways to sustain its economic growth.  Neil Edwards ’14 is examining the developing investment of China in Tanzania to see if it fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between the countries.

Enzymes and proteins, typically when left unattended or unprotected, can easily lose their structural integrity and fall apart.  Sol-Gel is an emerging material that helps encapsulate the enzymes and protect them from the dangers of degradation.  The technology can be used in numerous applications, one of them being a new method for slow-release medications.  These slow release medicines allow for the introduction of necessary chemicals over a period of time, avoiding any negative side effects from releasing all the medication at once.