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One fictional and the other expository, novels and maps have a unique and little-studied relationship. But if maps on their own are misleading, the potential for misinterpretation is even greater when they are used in fiction. Michael Harwick ’11, working with Professor of Comparative Literature Peter Rabinowitz, has been awarded an Emerson grant to analyze the relationship between readers and the maps that riddle the fiction they read.

In the world of high finance, little compares to the overwhelming New York Stock Exchange for sheer volume of information and hustle and bustle. But Ayebea Darko ’13 is getting a truly global perspective on the global economy. With aid from the Summer Internship Support Fund, Darko is interning with Databank Financial Services in Accra, Ghana.

For the past 40 years, war and civil unrest have taken a toll on Colombia. Families were torn apart, crops were destroyed, innocent people became victims of a huge-scale conflict. But women, although not often talked about, may have suffered most of all. Kirkland Summer Research Associate Caty Taborda ’11 is investigating the past, present and future of women’s rights in Colombia.

In South Africa, about 19 percent of the population ages 15-49 is living with HIV or AIDS.1 Many children are haunted by the disease, supporting family members or living with it themselves. Sophie Boehm ’11, with support from the Joseph F. Anderson Internship Fund, is interning with the Ubuntu Education Fund, which works to lighten the load of these burdened children.

Legendary trumpeter Clark Terry once said that true musicianship can be achieved through imitation, assimilation and innovation. This summer, Tim Carman ’11 intends to tackle the “imitation” aspect; working with an Emerson grant and Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley, he will create a manual of the most important drum grooves for drummers to study.

Place your hand on your throat. Whether you know it or not, you’re holding your thyroid glands, some of the most important in your body. The team of Sloane Lipkin ’11, Andrew Brodsky ’11 and Evan Taddeo ’11, working under Professor of Biology David Gapp, are working this summer to determine the effects of decreased thyroid function, or hypothyroidism, on mice.

Over the past few years, people have become aware of a health threat in an unexpected place: traces of bisphenol-A (or BPA) that leach from reusable plastic water bottles. Because of his interest in endocrinology and toxicology, Dan Brimberry ’13 has decided to further pursue this subject with funding from an Emerson grant and guidance from Timothy Elgren, professor of chemistry.

If you told your 10-year-old nephew to eat three pieces of broccoli before he could eat dessert, he could probably figure out that eating four or five pieces would still get him that sundae. But at what age do children learn to distinguish ‘at least n,’ ‘at most n’ and ‘exactly n’ and apply them? Celia Yu ’12 received an Emerson grant to study the numerical acquisition of children with regard to their interpretation of such expressions.

In a chemistry lab, Eric Kuenstner ’12 and Jack Trieu ’11 place a round-bottom flask on an instrument called a rotovap. With a push of a button the flask begins spinning, making the solution flow from the flask through coiled tubes. “It always makes me feel like a mad scientist,” Kuenstner laughs, and Trieu nods agreement. But the result of this seemingly diabolical processing is hardly sinister; the students are looking to find the most favorable conditions for a [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangement to occur.

Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” This summer, Eva Hunt ’11 is discovering how art is used cathartically, but for some heavier dust than Picasso’s; through internships with Project Create and The Smith Farm Center, Hunt is learning that art can be therapeutic for children and adults.