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Professor of Chemistry George Shields hosted the 1st MERCURY Conference in Computational Chemistry (http://mars.chem.hamilton.edu/conference/) at Hamilton College. This national conference featured seven talks by invited speakers and 28 poster presentations by undergraduates, and was organized by Shields and Jennifer Sturm, system administrator and research support specialist.  Each undergraduate had two minutes to advertise his or her work in front of the entire audience of 70 attendees, followed by a two-hour period where they explained their work in more detail at the poster session.  Shields and Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow Steve Feldgus had 13 of their summer research students present the results of their collaborative research projects at the conference:  Amber Gillis '06 and Becky Shepherd '06, "Energetics of the Hydrogen Atom Abstraction by Diradicals;" JunChan Hong '05, "Conformational Analysis and Docking Studies on Phosphatase Cdc25B Inhibitors;"  Christy House '06 and Meghan Dunn, "pKa Calculations on Amino Acids;"  David Kelland '05, "Substituent Effects on Hydrogen Atom Abstraction by Diradicals;"  Katrina Lexa '05,  "Conformational Analysis of the alpha-fetoprotein Active Site;" Matthew Liptak '03,  "Absolute pKa Determinations for Protonated Nitrogen Compounds;"   Abby Markeson '04, "Investigating the Stereoselectivity of Radical Additions" (joint computational/synthetic project with the synthetic part supervised by Ian Rosenstein, associate professor of chemistry;) Brent Matteson '04, "Conformational Analysis for Absolute pKa Determinations of Amino Acids;"  Emma Pokon '04, "Hydrogen Bonded Clusters;"  Chantelle Rein '03, "The Enediyne Anticancer Antibiotics: A Study of the Bergman Cyclization Barriers of Experamicin A1 using the ONIOM Hybrid Method;" and Sarah Taylor '03, "Computational Approaches to Anti-cancer Drug Design."

Fletcher Malcom and Jennifer McGuire, both members of the class of 2003, are working with Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel trying to find anti-cancer compounds in algae that may have future pharmaceutical use. Malcom and McGuire, both chemistry majors, have enjoyed the opportunity to do serious research prior to their senior thesis’ projects, which will be completed in the upcoming academic year.

Shayna McHugh ’05, Julie Rizzo ’03 and Jakub Sroubek ’05 participated in Hamilton College’s Summer Science Research Program, which enables students to work with Hamilton professors on current science research each summer. McHugh, Rizzo and Sroubek took part in a study initiated by Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry Robin Kinnel. The study examines sponges from Guam and Palau for possible anti-cancer and anti-biotic compounds.

Hamilton College soccer coach Perry Nizzi is hosting the annual All American Soccer Camp this week on campus. More than 200 girls and boys from all over the Northeast are spending their days doing skills and drills, playing World Cup and competing in full games each evening.For information on next year's camp, contact Perry Nizzi at 315-859-4756, or via e-mail, pnizzi@hamilton.edu.

Associate Professor of Sociology Mitchell Stevens was interviewed for a feature article about homeschooling families in the August 2002 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Stevens, author of Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement (2001) says, "Homeschooling provides intimate, individualized attention by an instructor who knows the child better than anyone else.These aren't fancy, fashionable ideas. This movement is built around things we all know work, but that we don't all do."

Johanna Carroll ’03 and Matthew Child ’04 are working with Assistant Professor of Biology Steven Festin on science research this summer. Carroll, a biology major and Festin’s advisee, is looking at the effects of estrogen and other proteins on gene expression in cancer cells. Child, a biochemistry major, is investigating how alpha-feta protein reduces tumors in breast cancer. The two students are participants in Hamilton’s Summer Science Research program, which enables students to gain first hand research experience an area of their interest. There are 90 students participating in the program this summer.

The Bible says that the truth will set us free, but it also tells us about a Roman official who asks “What is truth?” and receives no answer. Must we always tell the truth? Is lying always wrong? Are there legitimate degrees of falsehood? Are human beings disposed to falsehood as well as the truth? Is deception part, perhaps even a necessary part of human nature – and of nature itself? These questions and others were considered from July 18-21, as the Hamilton College Office of Alumni Programs hosted the 2002 Hamilton College Alumni Seminar in the Liberal Arts. This year’s seminar was titled “Truth, Deception and Lies.” Nineteen alumni and friends of the college joined Edward North Professor of Classics and moderator Carl A. Rubino for the weekend activities.

Slashdot.org, an online technical news magazine, reported Hamilton College’s national conference in undergraduate chemistry, which ran July 21-23. Organized by the MERCURY (Molecular Education and Research Consortium in Undergraduate computational chemistRY) consortium, the conference featured speakers on a variety of topics from molecular recognition and drug design to using Beowulfs for research. The MERCURY system also features a 32 processor SGI and is housed at Hamilton College.

Associate Professor of History Thomas Wilson was elected to a three-year term as a board member of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. SSCR has more than 100 members from international colleges and universities.

Candidates for admission to Hamilton may submit results from: the SAT-1; the American College Testing assessment test (ACT); three SAT-2 tests in different areas of study to include the writing test, a quantitative test (chemistry, math or physics) and one test of the student's choice; three Advanced Placement (AP) tests in different areas of study to include English, a quantitative test (computer science, chemistry, economics, math or physics) and one test of the student's choice; or three scores in different areas of study from any mix of the above to include an English/verbal/writing test, a quantitative test and a test of the student's choice. If no preference is indicated, the Admission Committee will make a selection in the applicant’s best interest.