Research News

More than 200 Hamilton students stepped off campus this summer to engage in global exploration and academic discovery, funded in part by the College’s International Summer Research Fellowships. Here's a look behind the curtain of four of those experiences.

A new fellowship is giving Hamilton students the chance to develop leadership skills not just in the classroom, but in workplaces and communities throughout the Mohawk Valley.

On Florida’s Wakulla and St. Marks rivers, a group of Hamilton researchers spent their summer snorkeling for freshwater snails, watching for alligators and manatees, and collecting samples that preserve thousands of years of environmental history.

A growing partnership between Hamilton College and the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) is giving students the opportunity to pursue biomedical research. This summer, Lydia DeTraglia ’28 and Aksel Reid ’27 are spending 10 weeks at the institute in Utica conducting independent research projects while gaining firsthand experience in a professional laboratory.

While most of campus is asleep, the lights inside Hamilton’s Peters Observatory are still on. This summer, Associate Professor of Instruction for Physics Adam Lark and students Marcus Raabe ’27 and John Fitzgerald ’27 spend their nights tracking distant stars, searching for tiny flickers that reveal exoplanets: planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system.

For most people, the sound of croaking frogs signals a summer evening. For a small group of Hamilton researchers, it’s a sign that the workday is just beginning.

As the 2025-26 academic year wrapped up, students were honored with scholarships and awards, and presented research at professional conferences.

Four Hamilton seniors are finalists for the 2026-27 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a national fellowship for purposeful, independent exploration outside the U.S.

As a senior fellow, Julia Afsar-Keshmiri ’26 has amassed a network of scientists to further unravel the mysteries of brain development and neurodegenerative diseases. Through her fellowship, Afsar-Keshmiri has the opportunity to devote her entire senior year to her project, giving her a taste of life as a professional researcher.

Hamilton students Angel Apollos ’26, Ricaldo Lewis ’26, and Mia Wrisley ’26 partnered with Eileen Brinck, OHSWA recycling coordinator, and Alma Lowry, lecturer in environmental studies, to create the app modeled after the “Am I Recyclable” feature on OHSWA’s website.