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Steven Laurent Cunden ’18 is this summer helping to further develop the robotics technologies used in the Physics 245 course, Electronics and Computers. Cunden is working with the class instructor, Associate Professor of Physics Brian Collet, on enabling the relatively simplistic robotic arms used in the course to receive and react to positional feedback.

When people recall what they enjoyed most about science classes – whether  in college, high school or even earlier – chances are they remember hands-on experiments and the excitement of discovering something new for themselves. This element of discovery is important to Thomas Hoffman ’16 and Adam Lark, director of physics laboratories. The two are working together to add more discovery-based elements to introductory physics labs on campus, hoping to improve the learning experience for physics students.

Dean of Faculty Patrick D. Reynolds announced the appointment of nine Hamilton faculty members to endowed chairs. All were effective July 1.

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.

Six outstanding Hamilton women scientists have been named Clare Boothe Luce Undergraduate Research Scholars for the upcoming summer.  The awardees this year are Alex Betrus ’18, Katherine Fuzesi ’17, Vi Pham ’18, Linnea Sahlberg ’17, Isabella Schoning ’16, and Emily Sears ’17.

Professor of Chemistry Karen Brewer presented “Synthesis and spectroscopic studies of rare-earth doped sol-gel and nanocrystalline materials” on April 17 as part of the Chemistry Colloquium at Bryn Mawr College.

Lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and a couple shrieks were heard in the Taylor Science Center during spring break when two groups of local third-grade students visited for some hands-on science learning with the help of Hamilton’s science faculty. For more than 20 years, Professor of Biology Dave Gapp has organized “Science Exploration Days” which bring classes of elementary school students to Hamilton for guided tours and short lessons in various areas of science.

Lisa Randall, author and professor of physics at Harvard University, will deliver the James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture on Monday, March 9, at 8 p.m., in Wellin Hall, Schambach Center. Randall’s lecture, titled “Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World,” is free and open to the public.

Philip Pearle, professor of physics emeritus, co-authored a paper published in the November issue of the journal Physical Review A (PRA). “Heating of trapped ultra cold atoms by collapse dynamics” was written with Franck Laloë of the École Normale Supérieure and William Mullin of the University of Massachusetts.

Assistant Professor of Physics Kate Jones-Smith led a gallery talk and discussion on the mathematical and scientific concepts reflected in the Wellin Museum’s current exhibition Alyson Shotz: Force of Nature. The Feb. 19 talk explored how different practical and theoretical elements of math and science apply to Shotz’s work on display, many of which are sculptures named after scientific and mathematical terminology.