All News

Eating fruits and vegetables can provide numerous health benefits, from improved vision to substantially reduced risk of cancer and strokes.  Some parents have trouble getting their children to eat leafy greens or vibrantly colored peppers, but Morgan Osborn ’14 is trying to change that by educating teenagers about how great produce can be.  As an intern with the Burlington School Food Project, Osborn is teaching children various aspects of farming and how to prepare meals with fresh ingredients.

It might sound surprising, but studying two neurotransmitters found in drosophila, a genus of small flies, may help us better understand human brain chemistry.  While most people may not regularly think about neurotransmitters in our brains, these chemicals are the stimuli behind our frustrations when stuck in traffic or our elevated stress levels when facing a seemingly never-ending pile of assignments. Ashley Perritt ’14 and Niko Wagner ’14 are studying tyramine beta hydroxylase (TBh) and TBh-Related (TBhR) neurotransmitter genes in drosophila to better understand their functions.

Four Hamilton students presented their research at the 12th Molecular Educational Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational chemistRY (MERCURY) conference held July 25-27 at Bucknell University.

After attending a music concert, fans may not think about how much effort and planning went into the performance they just witnessed.  Between picking a location, agreeing to a contract and managing equipment, hundreds of details are involved.  This summer, Eli Davidow ’15 is learning the intricacies of record labels, booking agencies and performance venues.

Through our contemporary media, readers frequently hear about the decline of religion in America.  Alison Ritacco ’14 and Hannah Grace O’Connell ’14 are working with Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate and Assistant Professor of Art Robert Knight, to examine the realities of religious life in the Utica and Clinton areas, which may complicate that common conception. In their Levitt Group Summer Research project, “Religious Spaces in Transition,” they are focusing on how local religious institutions adapt to change.

In its quarterly Education Life section published on Aug. 4, The New York Times featured Bret Turner ’13 and his goal of interviewing every faculty member on campus about their research. According to the article, by the time he graduated, he had spoken with 200 of 223 faculty members, a half-hour to an hour each.

Five Hamilton students who plan careers in medicine are gaining valuable clinical experience working directly with patients at the Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains, N.Y. Julia Gelissen ’14, Allison Hall ’14, Allison Reeder ’14, Alice Grant ’14 and Jennifer Kim ’14 have been working as nurses’ assistants at the hospital since the end of May.

Hamilton College is situated roughly 30 miles from Green Lake, a rare meromictic lake in Onondaga Country.  This lake is considered special due to the segregated nature of its water and multiple base layers of sediment that have remained preserved over the past thousands of years.  This summer, Kevin Boettger ’14 and Matt Brzustoski ’15 studied the lake with Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick to identify its unique characteristics and features.

Director of Interactive Content Strategy Jess Krywosa presented “The Scroll: Hamilton College’s Social Media Strategy and Platform” on July 30 at the eduWeb Conference in Boston.

As one of the original 10 standing committees of the Senate, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a permanent panel that develops and influences U.S. foreign policy.  For six weeks this summer, Ellen Esterhay ’14 interned with this panel, which supports, debates and challenges treaties and policies from both the president and secretary of state.  Working on Capitol Hill in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Esterhay saw first-hand how foreign policy is developed.