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Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). This statistic is both disturbing and humbling – in the time it takes you to brush your teeth at night, yet another person has been raped, harassed, or damaged in a number of emotional and psychological ways. At the same time, this figure makes us feel powerless – what can anyone do about a crime that might be occurring hundreds of miles away? Chelsea Dilley ’10 is working at RAINN this summer, and her efforts there prove that even small contributions to a cause can span the distance between a bystander and a victim.

Having taken a class on research methods at Hamilton, Sanjana Nafday ’10 is well-versed in statistics. But when she heard that 50 percent of those arrested in the Kings County District of Brooklyn belonged to ethnic or racial minority groups, she didn’t need a hefty knowledge of numbers to understand that something was going on beneath the surface. The Bureau of Justice Statistics had reported that many of these individuals were from the lower economic strata or had poor educational background. To Nafday, there was an obvious hole in the study that she could not ignore. 

When Maximilien Yelbi ’11 visited the West African Ivory Coast at the age of 12, he contracted malaria. Like many inhabitants of underdeveloped countries, Yelbi suffered from the exhausting grip of the disease, which is the fourth leading cause of death in the world among children under five years old. Its victims live primarily in tropical or sub-tropical countries, where the climate and economic conditions allow for easy transmission and high mortality rates. The sickness eventually left his body, but the thought of it continued to amble through his mind.

Michael Bethoney ’11 is a self-proclaimed “political junkie loser,” but he characterizes himself as such jocularly. He is among dozens of other interns working in Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Commonwealth Corps Department, and they all share the same love for campaigns, grassroots organizing and other political programs. Bethoney obtained the position at the Massachusetts State House through Hamilton alumnus Mark Lilienthal ’97, who is Governor Patrick’s Director of Constituent Services.

Laura DeFrank ’10 never thought she'd take a science course after high school. In fact, most of her college search centered on schools that would exempt her from that requirement. As a sophomore at Hamilton, she took Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale’s Principles of Archaeology class, only intending to count it toward her anthropology major. But she enjoyed the class more than she expected, and her attitude toward science courses changed. “I guess I just never found the right one until now,” she said.

In the current economic climate, obtaining a degree in economics could actually be very profitable as a new economist could make an astounding breakthrough in financial theory. Daniel Bunger ’11 is one of these students whose studies could catapult him into a successful career. This summer, he is researching co-operative banks with the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics Derek Jones.

Although she was standing only two feet away in the operating room, Caitlin Williams ’11 was unable to see to the bottom of the large hole carved in the patient's brain. Using a technique called frontal craniotomy, the surgeon was removing a three-inch section that contained a massive tumor. The procedure made an impression on Williams, who is interning this summer for the Neurological Institute of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. “It truly affirmed my love of medicine and my passion to be a doctor,” she said.

Although the brain of a fruit fly or a honey bee might seem too small to be very active, chemicals do rage underneath the surface tissue. For example, octopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in learning and memory processes of Drosophila melanogaster (common fruit fly) and Apis mellifera (honey bee).

Pandemonium is at work even in the most tranquil places. For instance, a young girl playing in the sand on a beach may not realize it, but the sand pile she has created is a study in complexity. As she sprinkles more sand on the top of the pile, a set of mathematical equations govern how each grain behaves, but the way the pile functions as a whole is seemingly random. Gregory Schwedock ’10 is interested in how order emerges from such simplicity.

Growing up on Martha’s Vineyard, Samantha Rabin ’11 never thought her home was that different from any other. But now that Rabin is older, she realizes that because she is surrounded by crowded hotels and sun-scorched bathers, her seemingly commonplace life is actually dominated by an unusual economy. She is working with Associate Professor of Sociology Jennifer Irons to assess how a person’s financial position shapes his or her relationship to the community.