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Jared Diamond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies, will give the James S. Plant Lecture at Hamilton College on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. in Wellin Hall as part of the College’s science center dedication weekend “Celebrating Science at Hamilton College.” It will be followed by a book-signing and reception. The new $56 million science center is the largest construction project in the College’s history.

Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields presented a seminar for Syracuse University's Department of Chemistry on September 20.  His lecture, titled "Water Clusters in the Atmosphere: An Overview of Computational Chemistry Research at Hamilton College," featured the atmospheric chemistry work of Tim Evans '05, Frank Pickard '05 and Goldwater Scholars Meghan Dunn '06 and Mary Beth Day '07.  His talk also encompassed the collaboration between his group and his colleague Ted Dibble at the SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry. This work involves Marco Allodi '08 and Kristin Alongi '08, both of whom worked in the Shields lab over the summer and are continuing their research this fall. Dan Tomb '08, Ngoda Manongi '08, Pragyan Praghan '08, David Hamilton '09 and Jared Pienkos '09 also contributed to atmospheric chemistry research this past summer. Research progress in computational chemistry has been enhanced by the ongoing contributions of Assistant Professor of Chemistry Karl Kirschner.  Shields briefly reviewed the biochemical research of Sarah Taylor '03, Damien Ellens '03, Lorena Hernandez '03, Abby Markeson '04, Sarah Felder '07, Katrina Lexa '05, and Karilyn Larkin '06.

The Brookings Institution has announced the appointment of Hamilton College government professor Cheng Li as Nonresident Senior Fellow for the year 2005-06.  Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, is part of the Brookings Institution's China Initiative, a group of scholars who develop timely, independent analysis and policy recommendations to help U.S. and Chinese leaders address key long-term challenges, both in terms of U.S.-China relations and China's internal development.

The Hamilton College Contemporary Voices and Visions Series opens the 2005-06 season with the Ethos Percussion Group and the Masters of Indian Music on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m., at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.

Professor of French John O'Neal published a paper that he presented in 2000 at an international conference at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d'Ulm, in Paris. The paper was titled "Pour une mappemonde de l'âme: Les effets du climat sur la culture d'une nation dans L'Esprit des lois de Montesquieu." In Morales et politique: Actes du colloque international organisé par le Groupe d'Etude des Moralistes. Ed. Jean Dagen, Marc Escola et Martin Rueff. Collection "Moralia." Paris: Champion, 2005, pp. 247-69.

Associate Professor of English Naomi Guttman has published a chapbook of poems, excerpted from her manuscript Wet Apples, White Blood, in the on-line journal The Drunken Boat.

The dedication celebration of Hamilton College's new $56 million Science Center will include events beginning on Thursday, Sept. 29, and ending on Friday, Sept. 30, many of which are free and open to the public. With the completion of the center, Hamilton College will have nearly doubled, from 106,000 to 192,000 square feet, the amount of space dedicated to science instruction. The new Science Center will host 56 offices, 48 teaching laboratories, 53 research laboratories, 67 support rooms and 11 high-tech classrooms to be used by the physics, biology, archaeology, chemistry, geosciences and psychology programs. The building was designed to encourage and highlight interdisciplinary work, especially in the areas of neuroscience, biochemistry and environmental studies.

As the first presenter in this year’s Faculty Lecture Series, Associate Professor of History Shoshana Keller delivered a talk on September 16, titled “Teaching History, Teaching the Nation: Narratives of time in the Usbek history curriculum.” Her lecture centered on the ways in which the creation of Uzbekistan in 1924 was promoted through the Uzbek education system.

John Werner '92 was included in <i>Education Week</i>'s "People in the News" column on its Web site edweek.org. Werner was recently named executive director of Citizen Schools Boston. According to edweek.org, "Located in 13 cities, Citizen Schools operate after-school apprenticeship programs at public middle schools. Mr. Werner, 35, has worked with the organization since its inception in 1995. His previous job with the group was as the executive director of Citizen Schools’ 8th Grade Academy and alumni services."

Alan Cafruny, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs, presented a paper at the 7th Conference of the European Sociological Association Institute of Sociology, held at Nicolas Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. The paper, titled “The EMU and the Transatlantic and Social Dimensions of the Crises of the European Union,” was co-authored by Professor of Political Science Magnus Ryner of the University of Birmingham, UK. The paper challenged the conventional belief that the launching of the Euro represents an unprecedented level of European integration and a more even balance of power between the European Union and the United States.