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Heather Schrum '05, a geosciences major, certainly used her time at Hamilton to get plenty of hands-on experience in her field. She participated in field work on two Antarctic cruises, in 2004 and 2005, and in the summer of 2004 spent two months doing geochemistry research on campus with Professor of Geosciences Eugene Domack.

Hamilton alumnus Jonathan Overpeck ’79, geosciences professor at the University of Arizona and chairman of the National Science Foundation’s Arctic System Science Committee, has published findings confirming that the rate of ice melting in the Arctic is increasing at an unprecedented rate due to the effects of global warming. The report was issued by the Arctic System Science Committee and published on August 23 in Eos, the weekly newspaper of the American Geophysical Union. Overpeck’s findings were released just a few weeks after the journal Nature released Hamilton geoscience professor Eugene Domack’s study conclusively confirming that the recent collapse of a major Antarctic ice shelf was due to the effects of global warming.

Meghan Moulton ’07 brought a glimpse of Africa to the Hamilton campus on August 25 when she presented a slideshow of photos and a discussion of her student-led service trip to Uganda earlier this summer. Moulton led seven other Hamilton students on the trip in collaboration with Soft Power Education to refurbish local schools in Jinja, teach lessons to the children and organize recreational activities.

Benjamin Critton ’06 will be exhibiting three pieces of artwork in the “Uber Urban” exhibit at Company Gallery in downtown Syracuse. The exhibition, curated by Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Rebecca Murtaugh, features artwork by Central New York artists whose work is influenced by urban culture. The exhibition runs through Sept. 10, and the reception is Friday, Sept. 2, from 8 to 11 p.m. Company Gallery is located in One Lincoln Center at 110 W. Fayette Street in Syracuse.

Ernest Williams, the Leonard C. Ferguson Professor of Biology, was featured in an article in his hometown newspaper, The Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyoming) about his recently published The Nature Handbook: A Guide to Observing the Great Outdoors. “Clues to solving some environmental mysteries are offered in a new book by a Cody-educated man,” says the article, published on August 1. Williams grew up in Cody and attended local schools until the early 1960s. The article quotes Williams as saying, “I’m in the East and the West, so there’s a focus on New England and Wyoming in the book.”

The first of the sheets of glass for the front atrium of the new Science Center have been installed. The atrium will be the front entryway and focal point for the building, and is being constructed off the old 1925 science building entrance. The new atrium will be a gathering place for students and will include a coffee bar run by Café Opus. The installation of the glass is a visible sign that the almost decade-long project is in its final weeks and on schedule for a September 6 completion.

Julia Brandt '07 (Kingston, Jamaica) knows she wants to pursue a career in public health. This summer she focused on deepening her knowledge and her interest in the field. Brandt, a neuroscience major, applied for and won an Emerson grant to pursue research about pharmaceutical companies’ advertisements. Advised by Professor of Biology Jinnie Garrett, Brandt analyzed the way pharmaceutical companies advertise products to physicians. "[My project] is trying to present the pharmaceutical industry as intrusive into lives of the medical public," she said.

Associate Professor of Economics Ann Owen was quoted in an article in CBS Marketwatch. The article, titled “Greenspan had a deft touch, can it last?,” chronicles Alan Greenspan’s success as chairman of the Federal Reserve and addresses the question of whether the economy can perform as well without him. It discusses the legacies he will leave, the second one being “a confidence the Fed can handle crises.” Owen confirms this assertion. “I think the Fed in the last decade has been a real model on how to deal with crises,” she says.

Studying South African apartheid literature as an Emerson-sponsored summer research project was more than an intellectual endeavor for Ntokozo Xaba ’08; it was about understanding something his family experienced first hand. Xaba, now of Dethewini, South Africa, was born into a state of emergency during apartheid, the social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. His name means “happiness,” a way of brightening up bad times, and is a common one for his generation.

While most 2005 Hamilton graduates said good-bye to the college in May, Aletha Asay ’05 will be returning to the Hill for the 2005-2006 academic year to work as the new Hamilton College SHINE Coordinator. Project SHINE (Students Helping In the Naturalization of Elders) links college students with older immigrants and refugees seeking to learn English and achieve U.S. citizenship. Students tutor elders in English, helping them become more actively engaged in their communities and teaching the U.S. history and civics needed to pass the citizenship exam. Project SHINE in central New York began with a partnership between Hamilton and Utica College and is supported by a three-year grant from Temple University’s Center for Intergenerational Learning and Learn and Serve America.