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Al Gore, 45th vice president of the U.S., and author of An Inconvenient Truth, told Hamilton’s Class of 2011 that the climate crisis is “the most serious challenge that our civilization has ever faced,” and that while the grassroots movement in support of solving the climate crisis is the most powerful in the history of the world, “it will be the generation of you in this graduating class that will really bring about change.” Gore also addressed the political state of our democracy and how decisions made on false assumptions have led to major national challenges.

Six students  presented posters at the 55th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting that took place in March in Baltimore.  Matthew Baxter ’11, Daryl Berke ’11, Alex Dao ’12, Jason McGavin’12, Nathan Schneck ’11 and William Wieczorek ’11  presented work as part of sessions on “Membrane Active Peptides” and "Interfacial Protein-Lipid Interactions.”

An article co-authored by Ernest Williams, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology, appears in the current issue of the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society. “Overwintering clusters of the monarch butterfly coincide with the least hazardous vertical temperatures in the oyamel forest” presents the results of the authors’ study of the impact of temperature on the survival of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico.

Twenty-six candidates for graduation were elected to the Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society, on May 19.  

In a weakened school system that faces continual budget cuts, co-curricular field trips are usually among the first programs that schools discontinue. In Washington, D.C., this rings especially true, as an increasing number of middle schools are deciding to drop field trips from their curriculum.

A paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Psychology Jennifer Borton was published in the March-April issue of The Journal of Social Psychology. “Does Suppressing the Thought of a Self-Relevant Stigma Affect Interpersonal Interaction?” was co-written with David Reiner ’05, Erica Vazquez ’08, Jessica Ruddiman ’09 and Stephanie Anglin ’10.

Hamilton College men's cross country and track & field national champion Peter Kosgei '11 (Kapsabet, Kenya/Kapsabet Boys' School) and women's lacrosse All-American Sarah Bray '11 (Rockville, Md./Connelly School of the Holy Child) received the 2011 Jack B. Riffle Awards at the College's senior varsity athlete awards dinner on May 18.

Four winners of the Beverly S. and Eugene M. Tobin Employee Awards were announced at Hamilton's annual employee service recognition luncheon on May 16 at Soper Commons.

Many people agree that climate change is a serious and immediate threat facing the planet, but far fewer offer the initiative, dedication and hard work that it takes to enact change. Yet this is exactly how Yinghan Ding ’12, recipient of a 2011 Levitt Research Fellowship Grant, plans to spend his summer, alongside Lecturer in Economics Margaret Morgan-Davie. Ding will conduct research on climate finance support in developing countries.

Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature Julie-Françoise Kruidenier Tolliver '02 gave a paper at a colloquium held May 11-14 at Concordia University, in Montreal. The colloquium was titled Francophonies trans-océaniques: vertiges de la balkanisation, rêves de mondialisation.