All News

Many academics believe that "modernization in East Asia can be directly linked to the growth of mass transportation in major cities." Jubin Kwon '05 (Lexington, MA) agrees, and will travel to Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul to study different cities and their public transportation to see if transportation does link to modernization.

Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, wrote an opinion piece for Newsday about the 9/11 Commission report. He stated: "... the commission's report will do little to quell the controversy surrounding 9/11." This op-ed was reprinted in the Newark Star-Ledger and Albany Times Union.

Andrew Lyons '06 (New Haven, Conn.) is hoping to uncover a little bit of history, and end debates surrounding the death of an innocent slave in Charleston, S.C., in 1822. He will do this with the help of Hamilton College History Professor Robert Paquette and funding from an Emerson grant.

Dennis Gilbert, professor of sociology, was interviewed for the article, "Class counts - more than pols may know," in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The article focuses on the differences between working-class and middle-class Americans.  Gilbert said, "overall research shows, the working class (roughly 60 percent of the U.S. population) has seen more of a decline in its living standards during the last 25 years than has the middle class (30 percent of the population).  Gilbert is the author of The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality (2003).   The article also ran on Knight Ridder News Service (7/27/2004) and appeared in newspapers across the country.

Christie Bell Vilsack, a 1972 graduate of Kirkland College, and Iowa's First Lady, will be a primetime, 7-11 p.m., speaker at the Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, July 27.  The convention will be held July 26-29 in Boston. Vilsack will address 4,353 delegates and 611 alternates representing each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands and Democrats Abroad.

Carlos Yordan, visiting assistant professor of government, published an op-ed in the Syracuse Post Standard.  Yordan stated "The White House's strategy to shift responsibility to Allawi (Iraq's prime minister) is a true gamble.  The administration can only hope he can convince Iraq's factions to cooperate, while persuading the international community to get more involved in the process.  If sectarian-based organizations can provide physical security and material well-being to the Iraqis, the people will naturally be less loyal to the state and its nation-building project."

Since taking his sophomore seminar class that investigated acid rain formation at the Adirondack Park, Tim Evans '05 wanted to further study the formation of sulfuric acid and model its reactions with computers. Now working with Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields, Evans will "find other examples in which clusters of gaseous water catalyze atmospheric sulfur reactions" other than in the reaction between sulfur trioxide and water in his project, "Effect of water clusters on the biogeochemical sulfur cycle."

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was interviewed by Voice of America (VOA). Li discussed Chinese study abroad movements and the contributions and status of those who completed their studies in the U.S. and returned to work in China. In a separate VOA interview Li commented on the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and its newly released Party platform.

Two Hamilton students, Michelle Skornicki '06 and Hilary Gamble '07, have relatively little experience in a science lab, but Associate Professor of Chemistry Timothy Elgren has raved about their research work this summer. Their confidence in working in a laboratory situation has aided them in their study of catalytic enzymes and how they behave when encapsulated in sol-gel.

Eight Hamilton College students are spending the summer working on a long-term research project that investigates the optical properties of rare earth-based solid materials under the supervision of Professor of Chemistry Karen Brewer and Professor of Physics Ann Silversmith. Kate Schirmer '05, Peter Burke '06, Helena Grabo '06, Greg Armstrong '06 and Brendan Sullivan '07 are each conducting specified parts of this interdisciplinary study, and incoming first-year students Tessa Olson '08, Katie Donahue '08 and John-Henry Forster '08 are contributing to the work as well.