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Xiaohan Du ’12 is proud of her Chinese culture, but has some qualms about its philosophy on education, especially in museums. “The Chinese people don’t get enough from the museums as they should,” she said. Du describes the labels and audio guides that resemble those in American museums, but also mentions that there is a staggering lack of activity outside of these merely informative aides. “It’s pretty passive,” she noted. This summer, she did a comparison of American and Chinese educational methods in art museums. Her research was funded by the Emerson Foundation Grant program, which was created in 1997 to bolster student-faculty relations through collaborative research projects.

"Nature's designs can be so stealth!" Alyssa Kanagaki '10 said. Diseases spread so quickly that it is hard to believe that something as small as a bacterium could cause so much harm. Kanagaki's internship this summer with Dr. Suckjoon Jun gave her the chance to explore these microscopic marvels more closely. Dr. Jun, a physicist who has recently turned to biology, wants to know how one cell becomes two cells. It's not a simple question, nor does it have a simple answer. He and his team at Harvard University’s FAS Center for Systems Biology study this and other details of a cell's life.

A poster created by Jacobus Van Der Ven ’11 was selected as a 1st place gold prize winner in the 2009 Computer Security Awareness Poster and Video Contest by the EDUCAUSE/Internet 2 Computer and Network Security Task Force. Van Der Ven received a cash award of $1000 for his poster titled “Is Your Computer Healthy?”

Born in Harlem, educated at Hamilton then Harvard, civil rights leader Dr. Robert P. Moses’ life is an inspirational story in the style of 19th century Horatio Alger novels. He graduated from Hamilton in 1956 and founded The Algebra Project (AP) in 1982 as a means to advance public school education, especially in mathematics, for every child. He and the people at The Algebra Project feel that every child is entitled to a proper education in order to succeed in an increasingly technology-based society.

Stefanie Russell '12, Jordan Fischetti '08 and Stephanie Wolter '07 attended the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute with Levitt Center Associate Director for Community Research Judith Owens-Manley in Deland, Fla., in June. The group presented two workshops at the conference: “Refugee & Immigrant Issues: Deepening Levels of Engagement” and “The Beginnings of a Youth Development Project: Challenges & Rewards.”

Hamilton graduate Oren Root (1803-1885) was the first to find igneous, volcanic rocks known as kimberlites in New York State. In 1881, he retired as Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Mineralogy and Geology at Hamilton, and left a legacy of sage and introspective research for future students and faculty to imitate. This summer, Alexandra Hutchison ’10 and Lisa Feuerstein ’10 are expanding on the study of kimberlites across Central New York and the eastern states. They are working with Associate Professor of Geosciences David Bailey to determine why kimberlites exist in certain places and where they came from. Their projects have slightly different aims, but both revolve around the effort to discern the more reliable theories from those with not enough evidence.

Members of Hamilton's class of 2013 will have a quick orientation to the area that will be their home for the next four years when they embark on the second Hamilton Serves! volunteer orientation effort on Aug. 26. All 466 first-year students will spend four hours volunteering at 46 non-profit agencies in the area.

They were lined up at 7 a.m. A passer-by might assume that the hundreds of Hamilton students in North Lot on August 25 were there to buy tickets for a popular band’s concert or to take advantage of a free giveaway. But the students gave new meaning to “reduce, reuse and recycle” as they turned out by the hundreds for the 2nd annual Ham Cram & Scram tent sale. Cram & Scram is a reuse/recycle program aimed at reducing end-of-the-year waste; residence hall items were collected at the end of the spring semester, stored over the summer and tagged at bargain basement prices to be snapped up at the two-day tent sale.

Today members of the class of 2013 gathered at the historic Kirkland Cottage to sign the College Register symbolizing their matriculation at Hamilton.  This tradition, established in 1975, represents the beginning of their college career and their membership in the Hamilton community.

Yinghan Ding ’12 is an international student at Hamilton, and so are some of his friends. When it comes time to head home for winter break, they might want to heed his advice about buying airline tickets.  By the end of the summer, Ding will be practically an expert on the topic. In the spring, he received an Emerson Grant to study price fluctuations in the airline industries. Because the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 eliminated most of the U.S. government’s interference in the economic standing of airlines, Ding is curious to see whether or not the government needs to become reacquainted with airline regulation in order to achieve stable prices that will benefit both consumers and the industry.