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It was love at first sight. At four years old, Will Eagan '11 became entranced by the computer game Math Blaster, which revolved around a mathematical adventure in outer space. For Eagan, math and astronomy are two subjects that continue to captivate him 16 years later.

Robin Kinnel, the Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry, presented a poster titled "The Chemistry of Aster prenanthoides: An Unexpected Encounter with a Polyacetylenic Hydrocarbon" at the meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy. Thomas Irvin '09 co-authored the paper. The scientific work detailed in the poster was largely taken from Irvin's thesis.

Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures Masaaki Kamiya and Akemi Matuya of Takachiho University in Japan were invited to present at a poster session of the Japanese Society for Language Sciences at Tokyo Denki University, on July 4- 5.

iPhones are slick and manageable, which is why the owner of one gets a certain satisfaction out of using it. He likes the sleek black frame and the way the icons slide effortlessly across the screen. The way in which he interacts with this piece of technology is called the user interface -- the ease with which a person is able to assess the state of system and how he can use it to his best advantage. This summer, Samuel Hincks '11 will analyze how cognitive workload can help facilitate user interface.

Although Travis Mockler '11 has never taken a women's studies course at Hamilton, he has found himself at the epicenter of a project started in 2008 by a global feminism class. He is continuing work on a Burmese weaving project at Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees through the Levitt Community Service Fellowship, one of two this summer. The emphasis on culture and identity is what attracted Mockler, who is an English major.

More than 50 Hamilton students, employees and alumni and their family members participated in the 32nd annual Boilermaker, a 15k road race in Utica, on July 12. This year's race boasted 10,580 finishers, led by Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi, who won with a time of 43 minutes, 56 seconds. The Boilermaker annually attracts elite runners from all over the world, including Olympians and world record holders. The 9.3 mile Boilermaker is rated as one of the top 100 races in the U.S. by Runner's World magazine.

"Understanding Rhetorical Nuance: Western Music and Narrative Theory," by Professor of Comparative Literature Peter J. Rabinowitz, has appeared in Xushi Congkan (Narrative Series 1), edited by Fu Xiu-Yan and published by the China Social Sciences Publishing House in Beijing. The article, in a Chinese translation by Zhou Jingbo, is based on the plenary talk Rabinowitz originally delivered at the First International Narratological Conference, sponsored by the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences in 2007.

"Who wouldn't want to know how the mind works?" Morgan Williams '11 asks. A rising junior, this summer she is working with Stone Professor of Psychology and Director of the Neuroscience Program Douglas Weldon on a project titled "The Neurobiology of Frustration"  that will survey the part of the brain that controls aggression.

Hamilton College is among the top 20 small colleges and universities sending recently graduated seniors to the Teach for America 2009 corps. This year, Hamilton will contribute nine scholars to the program, all of whom will begin teaching in rural and urban public schools across the country this fall.

Some organisms breathe gases. But others don't. While it may seem plausible that certain bacteria can "inhale" solids as part of the respiratory process, our preconceived notions of some solids – like iron – are rigidly robust. Never would we consider a solid such as iron a breathable entity. But it is, at least for one bacterium known to biologists as Shewanella oneidensis. David Brown '10 and Amy Allen '10 are probing through previous research on the organism this summer with Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick.