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Recent Hamilton graduate Caitlyn Williams ’11 is thrilled to be entering into a position with the  Community HealthCorps Program, a division of AmeriCorps later this summer as a school-based health center coordinator. Williams will be working with Open Door Family Medical Center in the medically underserved community of Port Chester, New York.

For the past several years, the economic downturn has been making headlines, and so it seems uncommon to study a market specifically for its stability. Yet this is precisely how Mao Ding ’14, a recipient of a 2011 Emerson Summer Grant, plans to spend his summer, researching the reasons behind the surprising steadiness of the Chinese real estate market, which was expected to collapse in 2008 or 2009.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale and Visiting Instructor of Anthropology Alissa Nauman, in partnership with the Slocan Valley Heritage Trail Society, were awarded a Columbia Basin Trust Community Development Program Grant.  The award provides funding for research associated with the Slocan Narrows Archaeological Project which also serves as the Hamilton College archaeology field school in British Columbia, Canada.

Over the course of Reunions ’11 Weekend, speakers at 30 Alumni College events informed the more than 1,000 returning alumni and guests on a wide variety of topics, ranging from urban redevelopment to food allergies to healthcare to sustainable investments. Here are brief reports on six of those sessions.

The availability of basic human rights concerns everybody on the planet, and human rights violations are not only pertinent to the area where they take place, but to the global community. For this reason, human rights organizations garner great benefits from supporters around the world, and anybody who spends time with such an organization has the potential to provide critical aid. Roxanne Makoff ’12 will spend her summer as an intern with Amnesty International in New York City in support of the organization's goal of rectifying bhuman rights violations .

Assistant Professor of Economics Emily Conover was invited to present her research on informal labor markets in Colombia at the Sixth IZA/World Bank Employment and Development Conference, May 30-June 1, in Mexico City. The theme of the conference was social insurance and labor markets in developing countries.

As much as science has uncovered about the human brain, the relationship between brain and movement remains relatively unclear. For example, when attempting to point to or touch a specific, moving target, response times vary based on a wide variety of factors. This  summer, Elin Lantz ’13 and Robert Hawkins ’13 along with Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Jonathan Vaughan will study how speed and accuracy of movement are different in the right and left hands.

An interview with Katharine Kuharic, the Kevin Kennedy Associate Professor of Art, appears in the May/June issue of Artillery magazine. Written by Hamilton Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Christopher Russell, the piece appears under the publication’s “Studio Visit” column. Kuharic’s work is currently included in a group show titled Cinematic Bodies at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago.

Rats may be notorious for their unappealing image, but in a scientific laboratory they can be instrumental toward testing hypotheses and unlocking new discoveries. In psychology, studying the behavior of rats can shed light on otherwise baffling animal phenomena. This summer Sarah Cocuzzo ’13 and Megan Lander ’13 are studying rats with regard to the phenomenon of contrafreeloading. Their project will examine the tendency to work for a reward even when it is readily available without any effort.

The political climate in many South American countries is difficult to contemplate.  Ecuador, for example, must cope with a divided population, a struggling democracy, and a president whose power is steadily -- and perhaps dangerously -- increasing. In an attempt to shed some light on Ecuador’s government, Kevin Tutasig ’13  will complete a Summer 2011 Levitt Leadership Program Public Service Internship in Quito, Ecuador, with the Ecuadorian National Assembly.