All News

Professor of Biology Ernest Williams gave an invited lecture, "Population Trends and Overwinter Survival in Monarch Butterflies," to the Biology Department at Boston University on Jan. 23.

In December, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Ashleigh Smythe joined nine other scientists for two weeks of field research on the Pacific coast of Panama. The team was based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s marine research laboratory on Naos Island in Panama Bay on the outskirts of Panama City and near the entrance to the Panama Canal.

Time for Kids, a a weekly classroom news magazine produced by TIME Inc. that covers “a wide range of real-world topics,” focused its Sept. 30 issue on monarch butterflies. Professor of Biology Ernest Williams was quoted extensively throughout the two lead articles that also referenced his recently published study on the decline of monarchs.

For the 28th consecutive year, the Ecology course (Bio. 237) traipsed to the top of Whiteface Mountain. This year's class was so large that it was split into two separate trips. As usual, the weather for this trip was unpredictable. The first trip took place on Sept. 25 with Prof. Bill Pfitsch and found warmth, blue skies and grand vistas. The second trip, led by Prof. Ernest Williams on Oct. 2, encountered dense overcast skies, rain and chilly temperatures.

Biologist E.O. Wilson made the case for the protection of biodiversity in a lecture titled “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth,” on Monday, Oct. 3. The Biology and Environmental Studies departments brought Wilson to Hamilton for the annual James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture.  

Nick Richards ’12 was a member of a research team whose article, “CTCF-binding elements mediate control of V(D)J recombination,” was recently published in Nature, an international weekly science journal. The article presents the results of work conducted at the Departments of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital/Immune Disease Institute.

Dean of Faculty Patrick D. Reynolds announced the appointment of two of Hamilton's most outstanding teacher-scholars to endowed chairs. Professor of Biology David Gapp was appointed to the Silas D. Childs Chair, and Professor of Psychology Jonathan Vaughan was appointed to the James L. Ferguson Chair. Both appointments were effective July 1.

Parasitic species can help control their hosts’ populations and add to an ecosystem’s biodiversity. This summer Kristin Forgrave ’12, Christopher Kline ’12, James Liebow ’13, Jaclyn Specht ’12, and Abby Koppa ’12 worked with Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Ashleigh Smythe on a project to explore parasitic worms in natural habitats.  The group worked on three separate projects that dealt with different worm species and hosts.

Hamilton’s Kirkland and Rogers glens offer beautiful forest paths for joggers, dog-walkers and nature lovers. Hidden within the lush greenery, a well-trained eye can spot several plant species growing there that aren’t native to the glens. Invasive plant species in forests have the potential to interfere with native plants and animals, as well as disrupt the microbial balance of the soil. Five biology students and Professor Bill Pfitsch are mapping these unwelcome visitors in a summer research project.

By organizing all eukaryotic species into groups and depicting their evolution in a tree-like structure, researchers shape a better understanding of how different sets of organisms relate to one another and how they evolved. However beneficial these trees might be, there is some debate as to which genetic markers should serve as the trees’ organizing principle, as well as which method of grouping should be utilized. Tani Leigh ’12 is working with Assistant Professor of Biology Wei-Jen Chang this summer to create a new version of the eukaryotic phylogenetic tree using ribosomal proteins.