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Stephen Knapp '69 of Worcester, Mass., uses glass and light the way many artists use paint and brush. A recent article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette highlighted Knapp's process for creating "light paintings" using glass and light.

Tim Elgren, professor of chemistry, has received a $259,000 award from the National Science Foundation in support of his continuing research. Elgren's lab focuses on understanding how enzymes work, particularly those that contain metal ions. He and his Hamilton undergraduate students prepare catalytically active biomaterials that contain the enzyme. These materials allow them to probe the natural activity of the enzyme catalyst. The award provides funds to support student participation in the project, a postdoctoral research position, and equipment.

Mary Beth Day ’07 (Seneca Falls, N.Y.) has a new pet. It is called the Dirt Burner, and it burns dirt. Old dirt, though, since Day is researching a new technique for sediment dating. Advised by Eugene Domack, professor of geosciences, Day hopes to “improve the accuracy of radiocarbon ages for Antarctic marine sediments using a programmable temperature combustion system.”

They say that students who study abroad tend to become very attached to their host countries. Drew Thomases ’07 (Roslindale, Mass.) would probably agree. Thomases was in India last fall and now returns to a kind of India by studying the Diaspora community in Queens, N.Y. Thomases will be advised by Jay Williams, the Walcott Bartlett Professor of Religious Studies as he uses his Emerson Grant to study the changing nature of the religious tradition within the Indian Diaspora.

Hamilton College has received a $500,000 Department Development Award from Research Corporation (RC) to increase faculty and technical staffing in the chemistry and physics departments. Only five U.S. colleges have received these RC awards since the first grants were awarded in 1989. Proposals for the award are by invitation only.

Zunfeng “Jeff” Chen ’08 (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Jonathan Stults ’07 (Woodstock, N.Y.) are at Hamilton for summer research into mathematics. They have abandoned the topic they originally chose (“difference equations, differential equations, and Simpson’s paradox”) and moved to the study of n by n (square) matrices. “We’re counting all n by n matrices in Z mod p with all or no eigenvalues in Z mod p.”

David Hamilton ’09 (Middleton, Mass.) is spending his summer in the lab working with chemicals. The rising sophomore has returned for the second year of his STEP/Dreyfus grant and is working under Ian Rosenstein, associate professor of chemistry. Hamilton’s project is to synthesize free radical precursors to study the transition states of the cyclopropylcarbinyl radical ring opening reaction.

Danna Klein ’07 (Fort Lee, N.J.) is hard at work in the New York soup kitchens this summer. The public policy major has a Levitt Fellowship to investigate the efficiencies and inefficiencies of food-related services in the non-profit sector. Advised by Rick Werner, the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, Klein will be studying a range of food services which operate in the East Harlem area of New York City. Her goal, she explains, is “to evaluate and to make recommendations based on inefficiencies in the public and private sectors in addressing social justice issues.”

While the large MERCURY conference was going on next door, another, smaller group of students also met at Hamilton for a science conference. This was the Colgate-Hamilton Organic Group conference, the creation of four professors at the two institutions for their organic chemistry students.  

Associate Professor of Economics Ann Owen was quoted in an article in <i>The Christian Science Monitor</i> on the state of the U.S. economy and the nation’s job market. Commenting on the job market and the complex nature of the economy, Owen said, “We see some strength and some signs of trouble down the road… The dilemma is that the numbers only tell the past, and you must make policy on what you think will happen." Commenting on new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Owen continued, "On the line is the credibility of the Fed under the new chair, if they pause and it's the wrong call, people will say Bernanke is not committed to a low inflation rate. But if they raise rates and it's the wrong call, people will say he's overzealous."