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Michael Singer '09 was half way around the world when most of his classmates were still recovering from spring semester. In late May Singer, who has an Emerson grant to study globalization, headed to Singapore, Bangkok, and Eastern Malaysia with his advisor, Associate Professor of Theater Craig Latrell. Singer was featured earlier this summer on this Web site in a short article which dealt with his project. Now, seven weeks later, we catch up with him again as he puts together his final product and reflects on his experiences in Asia.

 Famous psychologist and Hamilton alumnus B.F. Skinner once said, “The future of scientific research does not rest in the crowded halls of the professional scientist, but in the minds and hopeful projects of the young.” Skinner’s vision of the impact of undergraduate research rang in the voices of the 10 Hamilton College student researchers in chemistry who presented their summer work at Colgate University on July 27.  Hamilton student participants were: David Brown ’10, Janes Greisler ’10, David Hamilton ’09, Thomas Irvin ’09, Amy Klockowski ’09, Elijah LaChance ’10, Kurtis Magee ’08, Phil Milner ’10, Ben Saccomano ’09, and Evan Savage ’08. The students joined seven fellow researchers from Colgate in the 8th annual Colgate Hamilton Organic Group (CHOG) presentation session, together with Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel, Associate Professor of Chemistry Ian Rosenstein and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Nicole Snyder.

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Melek Ortabasi presented at the annual meeting of the Yanagita Kunio no kai (Yanagita Kunio Study Group), held at Otani University in Kyoto, Japan, on July 28. This is a society of scholars who are experts on Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962), the founder of "native ethnology" and folklore studies in Japan. She gave a talk titled “Yanagita Kunio to Nihon no kindaika: _Tôno monogatari_ kara sengo no kyôkasho made” (Yanagita Kunio and Japanese Modernity: from _Tales of Tôno_ to Post-WWII Textbooks), which presented the general outline of her book manuscript on this topic.

When most people think of turtles, they think of walking shields, animals that take their homes with them wherever they go. Certainly, the word "vulnerable" doesn't come to mind. Nevertheless, turtles are reptiles, one of the two classes of animals most affected by global environmental change (the other is amphibians.) Jillian Berkowitz '09 (Cranford, N.J.), Kristen Selden '09 (Southborough, Mass.) and Amy Klegarth '09 (Germansville, Pa.), under the advisement of Professor of Biology David Gapp and with the assistance of the Director of the Hamilton Microscopy and Imaging Facility Ken Bart, are realizing they don't have to travel too far to see the impact and make a difference. The team's research on the digestive tract of the painted turtle could shed much-needed light on how, and how many, toxins in the air and water make it into the bloodstream of these truly defenseless and extraordinary animals.

Associate Professor of English Onno Oerlemans delivered a paper at the British Association for Romanticism Studies/ North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference (BARS/NASSR) in Bristol, England, on July 29. His paper was titled "Romantic Origins of the Lyric of Animal Encounter," and was part of the panel, "Animal Subjects in the Age of Revolution." Oerlemans' paper tries to trace the genealogy of a genre of poem that helps to mediate animal being in human culture.

For six weeks this summer, Silas D. Childs Professsor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel and his research group hosted French master's candidate Aurélien Forget, who attends Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Forget explored the solution structure of a cyclic nonapeptide that is active against estrogen-mediated breast cancer as part of a larger study seeking compounds useful against this kind of cancer. This internship arose through the cooperation of the department chair and the Junior Year in France program, which was trying to create opportunities for Hamilton science students to participate in the program. Kinnel says, “The opportunity to work with Aurélien was unusual for me, and it turned out extremely well. Aurélien was able to make a significant contribution to the project.”

Kevin M. Brown, a 1983 graduate of Hamilton College, will join the American Red Cross as Chief Operating Officer on September 10. In this role, Brown will oversee all six lines of business, including Biomedical Services, Service to Armed Forces, Disaster Response, International Services, Chapters, and Preparedness and Health and Safety Services. He has served as the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service since May 2007. Prior to that he served as the chief operating officer of the agency, chief of staff and commissioner of the IRS Small Business/Self Employed Division, one of the agency's four operating divisions.

Kathy Harder '08 (Auburn, Maine), Danielle Sclafani '08 (Barrington, R.I.), and Brandeis University graduate Juliana Marcus '07 (Clinton, N.Y.) are working with Professor of Psychology Greg Pierce and Associate Professor of Psychology Penny Yee to study relational aggression. Relational aggression, also known as emotional or social aggression, is a form of aggression in which someone uses lies, secrets, betrayals, gossiping, and other dishonest tactics to destroy or damage the relationships and social standing of others.

In November, the Corporate Council of Africa (CCA) will hold its biennial business summit in Cape Town, South Africa. The summit will be a three-day event of sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities which will focus on sectors from entertainment to agribusiness. Planning, understandably, is already well underway, and there is a Hamilton student in the midst of it. Ntokozo Xaba '08 (Seaglen Gardens, South Africa) is an intern with the CCA in Washington, D.C., this summer and spends his time working on research and background organization for the summit director, Angela Rae.

Visiting Professor of Communication John Adams was interviewed for an op-ed about political humor, written by columnist Patt Morrison in the Los Angeles Times (July 26, 2007).  The column, "Buy a Card, Mock a President," concerned the increasing number of greeting cards that poke fun at President Bush and Vice President Cheney.  Morrison cited an example of a birthday card where a smiling Bush is shown, with the message "What's a birthday party without a clown?" Morrison wrote: "I'd seen a few Bush greeting cards before, but they were pretty genial, joshing the chief exec for his mispronounciatin'. This was on a different magnitude. Before I got brain whiplash trying to figure this out, I called a professional big thinker. John Adams is a visiting professor of communications at Hamilton College in New York, and he's analyzed political humor. What we laugh at, he said, 'tells us just as much about who we are as an audience' as it does about the joke. Significantly, laughter 'is the surest sign of where we're coming from.'"