Hamilton students take on unique projects that reflect their talents and interests. In many cases, they collaborate with faculty mentors on this work, which often leads to co-authored papers, joint presentations at professional conferences, and professors mentoring them during academic competitions. Check out what some of our students have been up to recently.
Mathematics
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jose Ceniceros co-authored an article with two students that was recently published in the Journal of Mathematical Physics. Math concentrators Brendan Magill ’23 and Gabriana Rosario ’23 worked on the article “RNA foldings, oriented stuck knots, and state sum invariants” with Ceniceros last summer. Both students were funded by the Monica Odening ’05 Student Internship Research Fund in Mathematics. The article will appear in print in the next volume.
Drake Gorecki ’24 and Benjamin Zhao ’26 placed second in the 2022 Undergraduate Statistics Class Project competition with their data-focused project “Examining Feature Rank And Dependency In The Q-Chat-10 ASD Questionnaire.” The work was completed under the mentorship of former Visiting Assistant Professor Tural Sadigov. Gorecki and Zhao tested question dependencies in a widely used screening survey used to detect Autism Spectrum Disorder among young children. The national Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition is organized by Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education and the American Statistical Association.
Senior math concentrators Noah Barton, Shelly Cao, David De Frutos Ostrander, Ryan Keller, Brendan Magiil, Tay Meskinyar, and Trevor Scheuing gave presentations at the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at Mount Holyoke College on April 1. This conference is held in the northeast every spring; this year, there were more than 300 participants.
For the second year, the Mathletics Team sponsored a Pi Memorization Competition in celebration of Pi Day (March 14). The winner, Josh Smith ’26, recited more than 1,000 digits from memory; second and third place went to Nate Hays ’23 and Jun Cho ’25, respectively. All three students are members of the Hamilton men’s varsity swim team.
Philosophy
Cat Schmitt ’24 and Professor of Philosophy Russell Marcus co-authored a piece on Hamilton’s summer philosophy program (HCSPiP) that was recently featured on the preeminent philosophy blog, Daily Nous.
Psychology
Assistant Professor of Psychology Keelah Williams’ students presented posters at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in February:
- Olivia James ’23 — “The Effects of Interpersonal Versus Intrapersonal Relationships in Police Use of Force”
- Qiran (Rex) Fan ’23 — “What We Are vs. What We Do: The Relationship Between Moral Characteristics and Blame”
- Whitney Hintz ’23 and Nicklaus Herbst ’23 — “Personal Relevance Affects Perception of the Immorality of Politically Charged Threats”
Physics
Physics major Trevor Scheuing ’23 co-authored research conducted with Assistant Professor of Physics Viva Horowitz that she presented at the American Physical Society’s March meeting in Las Vegas.
Titled “Validating an algebraic approach to characterizing resonator networks,” the project developed a new way to interpret data from a network of connected resonators to uncover the underlying physical system. Resonant systems show up in a variety of ways: in neural networks, in mechanical systems, in engineered microscale and macroscale devices. But in order to build or use resonator networks, scientists need to be able to understand the underlying building blocks, Horowitz explained.
Dean of Faculty Office
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Ngoni Munemo recently selected the inaugural winners for the Dean's Choice Awards for Visual Art. This new award celebrates Hamilton’s talented students by displaying selected artwork of distinction in the Dean’s Office in Buttrick Hall or in his on-campus home for up to four years. Art can include drawings, paintings, prints, and photographs. Winners receive a monetary award for loaning their work to the Dean’s Office. The winners include:
- Elliot Carlson ’23: “Machine Learning”, digital print, 22” x 14.5” (2022)
- Renyi Xu ’25; “Hell Nirvana”, 30” x 22”, watercolor on paper (2021)
- Campbell Berry ’24; “Vine Worker”, oil on canvas, 36” x 24” (2022)
