At the end of their summer research, students from Hamilton, Colgate University. and Hobart and William Smith Colleges who did projects in organic chemistry gathered at Hamilton to present their results in a symposium on July 25. Each student spoke for 15 minutes and then responded to questions. A cookout at the Babbitt Pavilion followed.

Anna Paikert ’13 first conceived of the idea to use creative writing as a therapy to help developmentally disabled children while studying childhood developmental disabilities in Copenhagen at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad. Her involvement in a long-term project involving the study of creative writing and its use in educating special needs children led to her Emerson Foundation Summer Research Project.

Hamilton physics concentrators Nick Sylvester ’13, Jill Hallak ’13, Kerkira Stockton ’14 and Brandon Wilson ’14 have spent the summer conducting research for the aCORN collaborative, a project being carried out by five universities and colleges and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Mysticism, or the study of individuals who seek to access a higher-than-sensory reality, is a relatively abstract topic of study, but Sean Fujimori ’14 is hoping to bring the teachings and ancient traditions of the mystics into modern society. Fujimori is pursuing his study on mysticism with an Emerson Foundation Summer Research Grant under the guidance of John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy Richard Werner.

Despite being the world’s oldest continuous democracy, the United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the developed world. Peter Adelfio ’13 and Benjamin Anderson ’14 have been awarded a Levitt Group Research Grant to study this paradox by conducting a controlled experiment on methods of increasing voter turnout. They’re being advised by James S. Sherman Professor of Government Philip Klinkner.

McKinley Brumback ’14 and Katie Pierce ’14 are working with Assistant Professor of Physics Natalia Connolly and her husband, University of Pennsylvania Postdoctoral Researcher Brian Connolly, on a summer research project that has the potential to fundamentally change much of what is known about the universe.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the forefront of Middle Eastern news coverage, but another conflict of nearly equal importance taking place within the borders of Israel has largely escaped media coverage. As a Levitt Summer Research Fellowship recipient, Joshua Yates ’14 is researching the internal struggle between Israel’s secular Jewish population, which identifies with Judaism but does not strictly adhere to Jewish law, and its ultra-orthodox population of Haredim.  He is working with Professor of History Shoshana Keller.

Reserach has found that it’s more startling to hear a single loud sound than a soft sound followed by a loud sound. This neurological phenomenon is called pre-pulse inhibition and exists so that the body can adapt to loud stimuli when it is supplied with a warning. Allison Reeder ’14 has been awarded a science summer research grant to study pre-pulse inhibition in rats under the direction of Stone Professor of Psychology Douglas Weldon.

Students sometimes say that life at Hamilton exists in a “bubble” somewhat removed from real-world events off the Hill, but this does not hold true for Danielle Lashley ’13. She chose to spend her summer gaining valuable career experience right here on campus, by pursuing modern studio art work supported by an Emerson Foundation grant. Lashley, an art concentrator, is working with Associate Professor of Art Rebecca Murtaugh to get a taste of what life as a full- time studio artist might be like.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Andrew Holland first had the idea to create a theatrical piece with a focus on architecture after reading about a Berlin play which took inspiration from the Bauhaus architecture of the planned community at which it was performed. Holland brainstormed for locations to conduct a similar play at Hamilton College with Professor of Theatre Carole Bellini-Sharp, and the two decided the perfect location would be the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in the Cornhill section of Utica.