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Alice Popejoy ’09 (Sacramento, Calif.) has spent her summer researching the welfare state in the early 1900s and the government decision to offer pensions to single or working mothers, a choice she found uncharacteristic for the government. Popejoy described the goal of her project to be, “a full understanding of the cultural context of this movement…I am looking for a story that…will explain the human appeal of these pensions, as well as clarify the cause of change in sentiment among citizens and legislators toward pensions in the early 1900s.”

What do you do with a psychology degree? This was the question that sent Elaine Coggins ’07 (Auburn, Mass.) to an internship in the Laboratory for Developmental Studies at Harvard University for the summer, where she worked as a lab assistant.

Students are busy at Hamilton--busy engaging in meaningful scientific inquiry, busy collaborating with fellow students and faculty researchers, and busy exploring pathways to careers that make a difference. In fact, the work of one undergraduate team may lead to new treatments for breast cancer. Guided by Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields, a national leader in computational chemistry, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Karl Kirschner, students are studying the structure of peptides derived from alpha-fetoprotein, a naturally occurring protein known to inhibit breast cancer. Their work uses the new Science Center’s supercomputers to perform highly accurate theoretical simulations that offer the promise of life-saving new treatments for the one in ten women nationwide who face breast cancer. One of these peptides is a family of naturally occurring compounds known as enediynes. Frank Pickard ’05, a former student researcher, explains that enediynes “have drawn a large amount of interest as anti-tumor drugs because of their incredible ability to cleave DNA, and kill cells.” These compounds, however, indiscriminately kill both healthy and cancerous cells. Shields and his students’ have focused their research on exploring ways of modifying the compounds to be more selective towards killing cancerous cells. Kat Lexa ’05 worked with Professor Shields for two summers. Her research became her senior thesis. Lexa explains, “The largest challenge with my research is that virtually nothing is known about the molecule I am studying, not its structure, not its receptor site, not where in the cellular system it is able to inhibit breast cancer.” Shields helps the students with their research, however, he likes the students to work “as independently as possible.” He prefers to allow them to figure things out for themselves and come to him when they need assistance. He describes his summer research program as an apprenticeship, and a way to teach students how to be scientists. According to one of his apprentices, Heather Michael ’07, “Professor Shields serves as a faithful and patient consultant always offering encouragement and insight.” Shields and his students’ research continue to be on the forefront of anti-cancer drug treatment.       

Margaret Van Wyk ’07 (Chatham, N.J.) and Tyler Zink ’07 (Walpole, Mass.) spent their summer at Hamilton doing research in psychology. Advised by Assistant Professor of Psychology Jennifer Borton, the two students carried out a study intended to “determine the relationship between thought suppression and self-esteem…[as well as] to measure effects for implicit self-esteem, a construct previously unaddressed with respect to thought suppression.”

Hamilton College’s annual convocation will take place this year on Sunday, Aug. 27, at 4 p.m. in Wellin Hall, Schambach Center. The traditional ceremony will open the college’s 195th academic year, bringing together members of the administration, faculty and students.

Following a summer of construction and preparation, the home of the new Hamilton Outdoor Leadership Center was dedicated and celebrated on Wednesday, August 23. Following the dedication there was a reception, cookout and screening of adventure films on the lawn open to the entire Hamilton College community.

Katherine McElroy ’08 (Sudbury, Vt.) spent her summer as an intern at the Vermont grass-roots music group Big Heavy World. As a grant writer and the manager/administrator of an online store, McElroy learned about the administration of a non-profit organization.

Hamilton trustee John Rice '78 has been named president and ceo of General Electric Co. Infrastructure. The infrastructure unit, which makes products including jet engines and power-generating equipment, is GE's largest business, accounting for 28 percent of the company's $149.7 billion in revenues last year. Rice, who majored in economics at Hamilton, was appointed a vice chairman at GE in 2005. He began his General Electric career in 1978 as a member of the Financial Management Program.

In their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, Marxist critics Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno claim that in capitalist societies, art loses its revolutionary potential and becomes part of a culture industry which propagates the exploitive system that produces it. This summer, Laura Oman ’07 (New Providence, N.J.) used her Emerson grant to investigate whether and how Japanese and Japanese-American women writers resist this drag toward the culture industry.

Anique-Marie Cabardos ’07 (Cobourg, Ontario) spent her summer in the lab of Assistant Professor of Chemistry Camille Jones, studying the effects of sodium halides on structure II clathrate hydrates.