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Hannah Staab ’17 is applying her academic focus in biology to an internship with Dr. Kamran Khodakhah’s lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, this summer. The AE College of Medicine is one of the premier research-intensive medical schools in the nation and is a longtime national leader in biomedical research.

If prompted to identify animals that display high levels of intelligence, many people would probably name well-known exotic species, such as dolphins or chimps. However, one common species that many of us interact with every day may be among the most intelligent species on earth — crows. From tool-building and abstract thinking to complex social behavior, crows display intelligence to a degree that has been of great interest to scientists in recent years.

Jonah Boucher ’17 is undertaking research this summer with a team of students under Associate Professor of Biology Michael McCormick analyzing various chemical and microbiological properties of Green Lake in Onondaga County, N.Y. Green Lake is notable for its meromictic properties, meaning that it is separated into two major layers of water, one well-oxygenated and one anoxic, that do not mix, even after the passage of long periods of time.

Hamilton College welcomed 3rd grade students from Oneida’s Seneca Street Elementary School to the Taylor Science Center on June 3 for a number of educational presentations on psychology, biology, physics and chemistry.

Ernest Williams, the William R. Kenan Professor of Biology emeritus and lecturer in biology, recently published two articles about monarch butterflies. “Microclimatic Protection of Overwintering Monarchs Provided by Mexico’s High-Elevation Oyamel Fir Forests: A Review” appears as a book chapter, and “Enhancing Monarch Butterfly Reproduction by Mowing Fields of Common Milkweed” was published in The American Midland Naturalist.

Hamilton College’s highest awards for teaching were presented to four faculty members during the annual Class & Charter Day ceremony on May 11. Professor of Classics Shelley Haley was awarded the Samuel & Helen Lang Prize for Excellence in Teaching; Assistant Professor of Mathematics Courtney Gibbons was honored with the John R. Hatch Excellence in Teaching Award; and Max Majireck, assistant professor of chemistry, received the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition, Education Studies Program Director Susan Mason received Student Assembly’s Sidney Wertimer Award.

An article co-authored by Assistant Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend titled “Patterns of evolution of MHC class II genes of crows (Corvus) suggest trans-species polymorphism” appears in the April issue of PeerJ.

David A. Gapp, the Silas D. Childs Professor of Biology, attended the International Conference on Volcanoes, Climate and Society April 7-10 at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, Switzerland. The conference recognized the tremendous global climatic impact of the eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia 200 years ago.

Ernest Williams, the William R. Kenan Professor of Biology emeritus, presented “Monarch Butterflies: An Endangered Migration” on April 16 at the Discovery Center of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. The talk was part of the center’s Science Lecture Series.

Alexandra Kontra ’15 presented a poster titled “Coastal Protection in Avalon, New Jersey: Hard and Soft Structuring from 2005 to 2014” at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America - Northeastern Section.   The work Kontra presented in the Marine/Coastal Science session was based on her senior thesis with Professor of Geosciences Cynthia Domack.