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Pablo Abreu ’10 describes an “awakening” that occurred during his junior year. Up until that point, his heart was set on working with people in the health care industry. But after speaking to Daniel Custódio ’00 and Sandra Revueltas ’05, he decided to shift the course of his ambitions. Now he wants to pursue a career in business, which will give him a similar sense of direct contact with people. This summer, he is interning at Wunderman, the largest direct marketing agency and one of the top 10 direct and digital agencies in the world.

The Patagonia region of Chile has some of the highest wind potentials in the world, peaking at nearly 200,000 megawatts of power and sweeping by at five or 10 meters per second. Natalie Elking ’12 and Isabelle Cannell ’11 began to develop an interest in this obvious but overlooked source of energy after writing a group paper on what they believed was the proper approach to wilderness conservation in Patagonia. J. W. Johnson Family Professor of Geosciences Eugene Domack taught the course, and expressed interest in editing their paper and trying to get it published. As the topic moved more into the realm of wind and tidal power issues, Domack suggested a trip to Chile to investigate the matter. Elking and Cannell agreed, and enthusiastically accompanied him this past May.

When Xiang Wang ’12 watched the 2004 U. S. presidential election on television, he became enamored with politics and American democracy. It was only the beginning of his interest in governmental policy – the 5th Congressional District office, where he now interns, helped Wang and his mother immigrate to the United States. Now, as a potential world politics and economics double major at Hamilton, Wang is working for U.S. Congressman Gary Ackerman at the office, located in Bayside, N.Y.

Caroline Krumholz ’10 never described her interest in different people and ethnicities as anthropology until she came to Hamilton. Once she identified anthropology as a distinct subject with its own title and terminology, her interest began to grow. Ever since, she has become increasingly committed to learning more about culture and tradition. This summer, she is interning in Hamilton’s Anthropology Department, working under the advisory of Assistant Professor Chaise LaDousa. He is guiding her through the process of conducting fieldwork and sifting through relevant literature.

Who knew sports could be so academic? John Dunn ’10 did. This summer, he studied the political and social symbolism of rugby in post-apartheid South Africa. He believes that rugby has served as a means of political reconciliation in recent years through conflict resolution and racial integration. Dunn wanted to investigate the legitimacy of the African National Congress’s claim that rugby is an emblem for national unity. His project was funded through the Levitt Research Fellows Program, which is open to students who wish to collaborate with faculty members on intensive research projects related to public affairs. Dunn’s advisor for the summer was Associate Professor of History Kevin Grant.

One year after the inaugural Run for The Fallen, a ceremonial run/walk will take place on the Hamilton College campus on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 9 a.m. It will begin at the Michael J. Cleary ’03 Tree, adjacent to the Campus Road side of the Siuda House (Office of Admission and Financial Aid). Please join members of the community for this special remembrance.

Professor of Economics Chris Georges presented a paper, "A Hedonic Approach to Product Innovation in an Agent-Based Macroeconomic Model," at the 15th International Conference on Computing in Economics and Finance in Sydney, Australia, in July. The paper develops an approach to product innovation suitable for very large scale agent-based macroeconomic modeling.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Ashleigh Smythe spent five days in July on board the Robert C. Seamans, the Sea Education Association’s 134-foot research sailing schooner. The ship sailed out of San Francisco Bay, north to Drakes Bay, around the Farallon Islands, and finally docked in Monterey, Calif.

Matthew Gabriel ’11 has a fondness for phrases like “a more perfect Union” and “the Blessings of Liberty.” To him, the elegant script that cried for a fledgling country to “establish justice” and “promote the general welfare” is still relevant today. For many, the Preamble of the Constitution is just a Schoolhouse Rock song. But Gabriel’s intended career depends on how the entire work is interpreted. This summer, he is working at the Kings County District Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, N.Y., in their Early Case Assessment Bureau (ECAB). His internship reinforces his interest in justice and law.

“The only thing I ever enjoyed enough to see myself doing long term was being creative, which is why I became an art major,” said Linda Di Bernardo ’10. But it wasn’t until she watched Lord of the Rings for the first time that her interest in set design began to develop. Di Bernardo appreciated the clash of armor and attention to detail on every sword and garment, and knew that she wanted to contribute to such elaborate sets. “I remember when I was little I wanted to be an actress, which didn't work out for me since I get stage fright pretty easily,” she laughed. “Working on sets keeps me in that same kind of exciting environment while doing something I love.”