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Bryden Considine '08 and Assistant Professor of Biology Mike McCormick presented their research at the national meeting of the American Society of Microbiology in Boston, June 1-5. Considine and McCormick presented a poster describing a novel technique they developed to search for biologically produced compounds that permit iron-reducing bacteria to respire iron oxides solids that are far from the bacteria.  Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Professor of Biology Ernest Williams will lead a walk through the Utica Marsh as part of the Utica Monday Nite Walks & Talks Series on Monday, June 16, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The walk is titled "Observing Nature at the Utica Marsh." Williams also gave a presentation on monarch butterfly migration at the Visitor Center of the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge on June 15. His talk was part of its 5th annual Wildflowers and Wine Festival. Finally, on Thursday, June 19, he will speak to all the Clinton third grade classes about butterflies.

Benjamin Van Arnam '09 (Waterford, CT) is spending his summer investigating the ligand binding interactions of galectin-1, a protein involved in tumor progression. (A ligand is a substance that is able to bind to and form a complex with a biomolecule, like a protein.) Arnam hopes that his research may assist in the future development of better tumor growth inhibitors. Building upon the research done by Jodi Raymond '08 for her senior thesis, Van Arnam is synthesizing several different carbohydrate molecules and testing to see how well they bind to and inhibit galectin-1. His project is being conducted under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Chemistry Nicole Snyder. 

On Friday June 6, Vice Chairman of GE, President and CEO of GE Infrastructure, and Hamilton trustee John Rice '78 delivered the Reunions '08 keynote address to an audience of Hamilton alumni in the College Chapel.

Run for the Fallen, the 4,113-mile cross-country relay run created by Hamilton alumnus Jon Bellona '03, is featured in an Associated Press article on the eve of the event's start date and will be covered by CNN on June 14 at noon. Bellona organized the run in honor of Michael Cleary '03, his Hamilton roommate who was killed in Iraq, and all of the soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Steve Wulf '72, an executive editor at ESPN The Magazine, has published a review of Mark Bowden's latest book The Best Game Ever: The Birth of the Modern NFL in the June 10, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal. The review also appears on the Journal's official website.

Anne E. Lacsamana, assistant professor of women's studies, presented a paper titled "Empire on Trial: The Subic Rape Case and the Struggle for Philippine Women's Liberation" at the annual "How Class Works Works" conference held June 5-8 at SUNY-Stony Brook. Her paper examines the 2005 gang rape of a Filipino woman by four U.S. Marines. The Subic Rape Case, as it is widely known, is exceptional because it marks the first time a member of the U.S. military had ever been tried, convicted, and sentenced on Philippine soil. Although the case is currently under appeal, Lacsamana argues that the landmark verdict is the result of decades of organizing around militarized violence by members of the multi-sectoral Philippine nationalist feminist movement.

On June 6 as part of Reunions '08, Doug Chapman '58, the Fraser Riverkeeper in Vancouver, Canada, and Bob Boyle, who helped found the Riverkeeper movement, discussed their roles in the environmental movement to a Kennedy Auditorium packed with alumni. Boyle spoke about the path to establishing the Hudson River Fisherman's Association, an environmental group that protected the quality of the Hudson River and later grew to the larger Waterkeeper Alliance, a collection of conservation groups which now protect around 200 bodies of water worldwide. Chapman spoke about his role as an environmental prosecutor and the legal battles for environmental issues in the present day. 

David DeSantis '88, broker and owner of Tuft, Taylor & Rankin Sotheby's International Realty recounted the recent ups and downs of the American housing market in the Alumni College Free Fall or Recovery: The American Housing Market. He described his own home buying process during the irrational exuberance of the early decade. "There were seven offers on the house. I paid $100,000 over asking price, and I had to write a check on the spot, no questions asked," he recalled. Only a few years later, the subprime mortgage crisis would contribute to a housing market meltdown and quash such excessive optimism.

"A Nature Walk in the Root Glen," an Alumni College led by Professor of Biology Ernest Williams, was far more than a nature lesson. Williams' fascinating hour-long tour touched on many areas of study including geology, history and math as well as biology. Reflective of the glen's frequent community usage, the Utica Tramp and Trail Club and a Kirkland Art Center painting class were also enjoying the Root Glen. Several members of those groups joined alumni for the informative tour.