乐播传媒 juniors Aleisha Martinez Sandoval and Mohammed Mohammed, who are both 乐播传媒 STEM Scholars with a lifelong passion for science, have earned prestigious Goldwater Scholarships.

The two are among just 441 sophomore and junior students, from 1,300 nominated applicants, to receive 2025 Goldwater Scholarships, which provide merit-based awards to undergraduate students who intend to pursue careers in science, mathematics, and engineering. 

It鈥檚 the first time that two 乐播传媒 students have earned the prestigious STEM scholarship in the same year. 

Sandoval, who is from Mexico City, and Mohammed, from Iowa City, Iowa, are both first-generation college students and both biochemistry majors, with Sandoval also majoring in politics. 

Each is also part of the innovative STEM Scholars program at 乐播传媒, which provides mentoring, coursework, and community to a select cohort of students, including those traditionally underrepresented in science and mathematics.

鈥淚t鈥檚 thrilling to have our first double Goldwater be two talented STEM Scholars. What makes this moment so meaningful is that both Aleisha and Mohammed have combined scientific excellence with a demonstrated commitment to equity and service,鈥� says Robert Strong, a lecturer in English who is director of national fellowships. 

鈥淪TEM Scholars made me interested in research,鈥� says Mohammed, who plans to pursue advanced degrees in medicine and public health. 鈥淚t helped me grow as a young researcher and gave me the space to explore and define my interests.鈥�

Sandoval will use her Goldwater support to pursue her goal of becoming a physician-scientist focused on cardiology. 鈥淓ver since I was a kid, I feel like there’s nothing else in the world I want to do,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou know how people have plan A and then plan B? I don鈥檛: Ever since I was 5 or 6 years old, I’ve been telling my mom, 鈥業’m going to be a doctor.鈥欌��

April Horton, the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM and director of the STEM Scholars program, says students like Mohammed and Sandoval embody the confidence and persistence that the program aims to cultivate.

鈥淵ou don’t really get anything you don’t apply for, and we’re all going to get 鈥榥os鈥� in this world. But we surely aren’t going to get a 鈥榶es鈥� if we don’t apply,鈥� Horton says. 鈥淚 try to help the students cultivate that attitude, from when they apply for that very first internship or research experience to applying to something like the Goldwater.鈥�

Sandoval, who grew up in Mexico, attended a specialty high school in Texas for students interested in healthcare. There, she trained as an EMT and paramedic and treated patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淚 realized that I have the capability to actually help people on their worst days,鈥� says Sandoval, who has been an active member of 乐播传媒 Emergency Medical Services.

At 乐播传媒, she has gained extensive research experience. She has worked in the lab of Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams, examining the effects of the chemical pollutant perfluorooctane sulfonic acid on the cardiac development of zebrafish.

Last summer, she conducted cardiovascular research at Boston Children’s Hospital while on a Harvard/MIT program that offers research experiences for underrepresented students interested in pursuing a combined M.D./Ph.D. program. This past semester, she studied abroad in Copenhagen, conducting research at the University of Copenhagen on stem cell models for Type 1 diabetes.

Last fall, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Daniel Slane mentored Sandoval during an independent study that looked at how specific genes in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana contribute to heat stress memory.

Slane saw early signs of her determination. 鈥淪he was persistent,鈥� he recalls, in setting up the independent study, 鈥渁nd that was good. And she would come in again in the evening after dinner to finish something that might not have worked out. That overall drive and enthusiasm 鈥� that struck me.鈥�

Slane encouraged Sandoval to consider a research path alongside medical studies. 鈥淚 saw fire in her eyes for research, and I thought, why not go down the track to being a doctor who does clinical research at the same time?鈥�

As a politics major with a focus on public health equity, Sandoval understands how systemic inequalities 鈥� from environmental exposures to gaps in healthcare access 鈥� shape medical outcomes for underserved communities.

鈥淧olitics is engraved into medicine,鈥� Sandoval says. 鈥淲ithout proper laws that protect patients or that protect research, there’s not going to be any advancement in medicine. I think that we need to protect research, and we need to protect science.鈥�

Mohammed, who is also a trained EMT, first became interested in medicine and research as a child growing up in Sudan during ongoing civil conflict and unrest in the country.

Before moving to the U.S. at age 9, Mohammed looked around and noticed that the conflict was causing healthcare and medicine shortages. He wanted to understand why and, since coming to 乐播传媒, has pursued numerous research opportunities.

鈥淣aturally, I’m a curious person,鈥� Mohammed says. 鈥淲hen something captures my interest, I can’t help but ask why. I enjoy digging deeper into things I don鈥檛 fully understand.鈥�

Mohammed has channeled his curiosity into research across disciplines. After his first year, he studied breast cancer treatment plans at the University of Florida College of Medicine through the Summer Health Professions Education Program. 

Following his sophomore year, he conducted peptide synthesis research at the University of Mississippi鈥檚 Department of BioMolecular Sciences. 

During his study abroad, also in Copenhagen, he conducted research at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen on DNA sequencing and recovery techniques for degraded forensic material. 

This summer, Mohammed will conduct endometrial research at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, investigating therapeutic responses to patient-derived tumors.

He is also interested in bioinformatics 鈥� the use of computation to interpret biological data 鈥� which he has supported at 乐播传媒 through a minor in digital and computational studies alongside his biochemistry studies.

Back at 乐播传媒 this fall, he鈥檒l complete his senior thesis in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jen Koviach-C么t茅, exploring chemical synthesis 鈥� the construction of complex molecular compounds through targeted reactions.

Koviach-C么t茅, who became Mohammed鈥檚 advisor after teaching him in organic chemistry, has watched his interests evolve and mature. 鈥淎s he has taken classes and learned new topics, new tools, his interests have led him into thinking about things that could be combined in other ways,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I鈥檝e really seen him grow as a student and as a scientist.鈥�

Koviach-C么t茅 notes the significance of his journey. 鈥淚 am so proud of him, just really thrilled for him. He has worked really hard. He鈥檚 overcome a lot of barriers.鈥�

When you first brave the January cold and walk up to the roof of Carnegie Science Hall to visit  the college observatory, it feels sort of like being in a boat. Varnished wood planking, large slow-moving machinery you need to push around, and the strange feeling that the world outside your container is slowly moving around you.

The observatory houses the Stephens Telescope, given to 乐播传媒 in 1949 by a self-taught astronomer, Roscoe G. Stephens of Kennebunk, who built the Newtonian reflector telescope himself.

The observatory is a hidden gem on campus, one that the 乐播传媒 Astronomy Club is determined to share with the student body. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great place,鈥� said club co-president Evan Boxer-Cook 鈥�26 of Scarborough, Maine. 鈥淚 love bringing people up there for the first time. Seeing their reaction to the telescope is incredibly rewarding.鈥�

Tonight, Boxer-Cook is guiding a group of about a dozen students to the observatory to see a close grouping of Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and the waning gibbous moon. The club usually hosts a monthly full moon viewing, but last week鈥檚 full moon viewing was thwarted by clouds, so they decided to have another session focused on the many visible planets. 

It鈥檚 no surprise that many of the visitors are first-year students. The club, revitalized in recent years by co-president Jade Pinto 鈥�25, a double major in physics and Asian studies from the Bronx, New York, places an emphasis on inclusion. 

鈥淥ne of our missions is to spread the idea that the sky is open to everyone. You don鈥檛 have to be a physics major to be involved,鈥� says Boxer-Cook, who is a classical and medieval studies major.

Much like Roscoe Stephens himself, who was a photographer, machinist, mason, and chicken farmer in addition to his astronomy interests, Boxer-Cook鈥檚 interests are wide and varied.

In high school, he earned awards in English, Latin, and physics; at 乐播传媒, he tutors students in Latin, serves as an officer of the Classics Club, and has worked in the Muskie Archives and Special Collection Library.

As ancient disciplines, classics and astronomy intersect in myriad ways, and one way becomes apparent when Boxer-Cook talks about hobbies, which include the history of timekeeping and navigation instruments such as astrolabes. During the visit to the observatory, he shows me one astrolabe, which looks like a palm-sized sundial, but with a lot more detail.

鈥淭he astrolabe is a two-dimensional representation of the celestial sphere,鈥� Boxer-Cook explains. 鈥淚t can model the movements of the sun, stars, and planets. Basically, when you rotate this, you can get a snapshot of your local sky at any moment in time, and you can solve all kinds of astronomical problems with that. It鈥檚 had many, many centuries of continued use.鈥� 

The technology we use on this night holds some similarity. Before we head up to the observatory, we gather in the physics department’s seminar room, where Boxer-Cook projects an image from the website onto a screen, which displays the position of celestial objects in the sky above 乐播传媒 at this exact moment. We use what we see as a reference to show us where to point the Stephens Telescope as we look for Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. 

Inside the observatory, students climb a ladder one by one to look through the eyepiece to view each planet and inform each other of their positions. Boxer-Cook adjusts the telescope by hand to track celestial objects as the Earth rotates. 

The telescope鈥檚 tube measures 8 feet, 8 inches. Though hand-made by a self-taught astronomer, the instrument has long been considered a marvel of engineering, particularly its 12.5-inch mirror, which took Stephens six months to grind by hand.  

Though some adjustments are made by hand, electric motors control other parts of the observatory鈥檚 operation. One motor opens the dome鈥檚 shutter to the night sky. Another operates a rack and pinion gear system that rotates the entire dome.

And another small motor, not in use tonight, drives a worm gear that moves the telescope to track planets. Its design was aided by a senior thesis in physics by Jen Brine ’00, “Motorizing the Telescope in the Carnegie Science Observatory.”

As I take my turn peering through the eyepiece, it is strange to watch the planets crawl across the lens, feeling very fast and very slow at the same time. 鈥淭hey look like photos in a textbook,鈥� says Celia Horowitz 鈥�28 of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Toward the end of the night, after everyone has had a chance to look at every planet, Boxer-Cook encourages us to come back to the observatory, either during other club events or on our own as certified telescope operators at 乐播传媒.聽

Handling the certification process is Cole Hastings, a physics and astronomy assistant in instruction who oversees the observatory and the Ladd Planetarium. 

鈥淣ot many people know that anyone can be certified,鈥� says Boxer-Cook. 鈥淵ou don’t have to be in the club. They tell you that in astronomy classes, but it’s a very underutilized resource on campus, and we’re happy to be spreading the word.鈥� 

“Gene Clough taught me how to be curious,” said Noah Petro ’01. “I can鈥檛 look at an image of data from the moon, especially the far side that he loved so much, without channeling his passion and curiosity.”

Gene Alan Clough, a teacher whose passion and curiosity inspired Petro and many other 乐播传媒 students during a 38-year 乐播传媒 career, died Oct. 23 at age 77 from complications of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.

“Gene opened a door for me,” said Petro, for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and its ongoing mission to map and measure the moon.

“He鈥檇 always say that he only opened that door and it was up to me to run through it. But he did far more than that: He not only opened the door but taught me and others how the door worked and how to open doors for others.”

Circa 1955: In the Workshop

This family photo shows Gene Clough and his father in basement workshop of his father’s father. Clough came from a family of fixers, where the reaction to a broken household item was, 鈥淒o we fix, or replace, or get someone else to look at it?鈥澛�

Clough described his childhood in .

The family might not have always done the repair, but 鈥渨e almost always did the diagnosis, and this attitude and ability was supported by a substantial machine shop in the garage. When my junior high school friends would play ball in the streets after school, I could go into the garage and make things out of steel.鈥�

Circa 1968: As an Undergraduate

Clough poses for an ROTC portrait while he was an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology. Clough earned bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚, and doctoral degrees in physics at Caltech.

1986: Dedicated to documenting Olin

Clough played a key role in the design of the center鈥檚 concert hall by offering input on acoustics and technical features. 

Inside a Lane Hall storage room that faced the Olin construction site, Clough built an ingenious device to create a time-lapse film of Olin鈥檚 construction. The film comprised 48,000 still images captured every 6 minutes from March 1985 to January 1987.

The setup featured a film camera, (Paillard BOLEX H-16 Reflex) and an electric intervalometer that pushed the film camera’s single-frame button while also winding the film to the next frame. A Tork clock system turned the camera off at night and on weekends.

1989: Working with the BCTV

Clough, at left with Ray Viere of Facility Services, served as the faculty adviser to the closed-circuit 乐播传媒 College Television club beginning in 1988. Legend says that Clough laid much of the cable himself, threading cable through existing underground conduits.

鈥淗e was relentless in his dedication to giving students the technology backbone to create and deliver programming,鈥� said Craig Patton 鈥�91. 鈥淗e crawled into places and got dinged up on our behalf. He was a model advisor to the fledgling BCTV club, always available and supportive but letting us make the decisions, as long as what we wanted to do was feasible.

鈥淭he other thing I remember is how much he hated it if we thanked him on air. Which, of course, we did regularly because he deserved our gratitude. Gene Clough was humble, kind, and healthily obsessed with his work. BCTV was a huge part of my college experience, and I’m eternally grateful to him for making it all possible.鈥�

Circa 1990: Capturing video at another event

Clough served as director of technical support services, the college鈥檚 first such position, from the late 1980s into the 1990s, capturing hundreds of 乐播传媒 events and performances on video that are now preserved in the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.

1998: The Student rates Clough

As Clough returned to teaching after working in audio-visual support, The 乐播传媒 Student took notice in its 鈥溊植ゴ� Rates鈥� segment, quipping that it would take small army to replace him as an 鈥渦ber-techy bad ass.鈥�

2001: Connecting with alumni at Reunion

At Reunion 2001, Clough talks with Andrew Stabnick ’91 outside Chase Hall. That year, he received the College Key’s award for faculty and staff. As was noted in 乐播传媒 Magazine, Clough was “renowned for his seemingly bottomless reservoir of devotion to students and alumni needs:

• Offering his home for families to stay at graduation
• Pulling all-nighters at Reunion to help with setup and programming
• Cooking a Thanksgiving feast (where everything, even the applesauce, is made from scratch) for students in his First-Year Seminar
• Teaching himself Swedish, then teaching a course in it
• Helping students pull coax cable through underground conduits in the early days of BCTV.

Stu Abelson 鈥�97, then president of the College Key, praised Clough for being 鈥渨hat 乐播传媒 is all about: passion for living, passion for learning, passion for giving back to the community.鈥�

2001: Buckling down

Clough gave this vintage brass belt buckle to Noah Petro 鈥�01 as a gift after Petro鈥檚 successful honors thesis defense in 2001.

The buckle commemorates the Viking touchdown on Mars in 1976. Clough had been fascinated with the buckle since working with the U.S. Geological Survey in the late 1970s in Flagstaff, Ariz., where many of the geologists wore the buckle as part of their 鈥渦niform.鈥�

Clough secured a dozen of the buckles for his students. 鈥淚t was Gene鈥檚 ambition that his students have part of that legacy, and I鈥檓 proud to wear it to this day,鈥� says Petro.

2005: Into the land of machines

Clough is completely at home amidst the technology and machinery at the Saugus (Mass.) Iron Works, a National Historic Site, during a field trip for his First-Year Seminar, 鈥淭he Anatomy of a Few Small Machines.鈥�

The course was his way of realizing, in the words of the 乐播传媒 mission statement, the 鈥渆mancipating potential of the liberal arts鈥� for his students.

He wanted students to approach technology not as mysterious and unfathomable, but as 鈥渟omething that is an extension of your hands and your mind and for whose operation and performance you can and do assume full responsibility.鈥�

2005: Creating a blast furnace on the Quad

Clough feeds coal to a blast furnace that he and his students built outside Carnegie Science Hall in fall 2005. The project taught students how to smelt copper ore into copper.

Circa 2005: Clough and his iron lung

At his home on Nichols Street, Clough eases into a working iron lung, on loan from a local hospital. A member of the Association on Higher Education and Disability, Clough was an early advocate at 乐播传媒 for improving the accessibility of campus buildings.

He taught the Short Term course 鈥淓xperiencing Disability鈥� in the 1990s to give students the opportunity to experience obstacles faced by people with a variety of disabilities. To prepare for the defense of an honors thesis on polio and the March of Dimes, a 乐播传媒 senior spent time in the iron lung.

2015: In the classroom

In October 2014, Clough teaches his First-Year Seminar, “Anatomy of a Few Small Machines,” in Carnegie Science Hall on the Friday of Back to 乐播传媒, which welcomed parents and families to the classroom.

2015: Time to move offices

Clough didn鈥檛 drive and preferred to do anything he could do by himself.

From his perspective, asking Facility Services for help with a move would be a complete waste of human and mechanical energy. So when it came time to shift offices as his retirement drew near, he trucked all his stuff using a hand cart.

2015: ‘These envoys of beauty’

In September 2015, Clough leads passersby, including Dan Brause ’18 and Yinya Huang ’17, in viewing the blood moon, when Earth’s moon is in a total lunar eclipse, through a telescope outside Carnegie Science Hall.

Clough often set up shop outside Carnegie on clear nights, inviting visitors to stargaze and learn about important astronomical events, whether a blood moon or Mars on its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years (in 2003). He gave planetarium shows in Carnegie Science on diverse and unexpected topics such as how astronomical factors influenced the 1944 D-Day invasion planning.

On one viewing night in February 2015, he offered a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson to the photographer:

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.鈥�

2016: His Retirement Party

Clough laughs during a party held in Carnegie Science Hall to celebrate his retirement from the 乐播传媒 faculty.

2021: Having pi at his home on Nichols Street

Clough holds A History of Pi, pointing out to visitors a page with pi expressed to many decimals. Even as dementia took hold, Clough could recite pi out to 50 decimals.

2021: Down to earth

Clough smiles after completing his tandem skydive at SkyDive New England in Lebanon, Maine. As Clough battled dementia in recent years, his friends and 乐播传媒 colleagues Sylvia Deschaines and Jacob Kendall found ways to keep Clough physically active and engaged 鈥� so important for someone who has age-related dementia. That鈥檚 how Clough ended up skydiving.

In an email to the campus community, President Garry W. Jenkins has shared the news of the passing of Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of Physics George Antony Ruff, a member of the faculty from 1968 to 2008.

Dear Members of the 乐播传媒 Community,

I write with the sad news that Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of Physics George Antony Ruff, an accomplished, innovative, and inclusive physicist and educator, died Sept. 26, 2024, at age 83.

After earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Le Moyne College and a doctorate in physics from Princeton University, Professor Ruff completed post-doctoral research at Cornell University before joining the 乐播传媒 faculty in 1968.

At 乐播传媒, he taught courses on quantum mechanics, laboratory physics, and laboratory electronics, among others. He conducted research on atomic and laser physics, including the study of ultracold atoms in magneto-optical atom traps.

He visited universities worldwide during summers and sabbaticals, always bringing new insights and knowledge back to his 乐播传媒 students. While on sabbatical in 1975鈥�76, he did research with Nobel Laureate Willis Lamb and others at the University of Arizona that yielded a co-authored paper in Physical Review Letters on the first observation of the infrared radiation spectrum of the hydrogen molecular ion. 

Professor Ruff fostered a generous and collaborative environment in his Carnegie Science Hall lab, classrooms, and departmental spaces. Students learned not only the principles of physics but hands-on skills as well: Every student in his laboratory physics course was required to complete a project using the milling machine in the Carnegie machine shop. 

When Professor Ruff retired in 2008, Professor of Physics John Smedley presented the traditional retirement citation, recalling his visit to 乐播传媒 as a prospective faculty member. 鈥淐oming from graduate study at a high-powered research institution, I had no great expectations for the labs of Carnegie Science Hall. Instead, I found George and a contingent of nitrogen lasers and dye lasers and a carbon dioxide laser, all home-built. Not only was his equipment up to date, but George had four or five thesis students, several doing honors, working in the lab virtually every night. It was exciting, much more like graduate school than my own undergraduate experience had been.鈥� 

At 乐播传媒, Professor Ruff served terms as chair of the Department of Physics and chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and advised students in the Engineering Combined Plan.  He also served as an adviser to the Newman Club, now the Catholic Student Community. He was a member of Sigma Xi, the American Physical Society, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. He was active in his church, St. Joseph’s Church in Lewiston and later at St. Philip Church in Auburn.

His survivors include his wife, Nancy; children Joseph, Daniel, Susan, and Arthur; eight grandchildren; nieces and nephews; and their families. 

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Philip Church in Auburn at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5. includes a memorial gift designation to 乐播传媒.

I join the rest of the 乐播传媒 community in extending my condolences to the family and friends of George A. Ruff.

Nearly all living things 鈥� fish or fowl, human or humpback whale 鈥� encounter industrial chemicals all the time, and whether this contact is harmful, lethal, or harmless largely depends on the amount of exposure.

For example, it鈥檚 known that exposure to triphenyl phosphate (TPhP), a chemical used as a , is harmful to humans and aquatic species at relatively high levels, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been conducting a risk evaluation of the chemical in recent years.

Now comes new research from a 乐播传媒 team comprising Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams and three recent graduates, who have done the first examination of the effect of TPhP exposure in everyday life, a level known as 鈥渆nvironmentally relevant concentrations,” discovering that everyday exposure to TPhP is harmful to zebrafish embryos and larvae 鈥� and, potentially, to human beings as well.’

Published as the cover article in the May 2024 issue of the journal Toxics, their paper, 鈥淓nvironmentally Relevant Concentrations of Triphenyl Phosphate (TPhP) Impact Development in Zebrafish,鈥� was for its interest to readers and research importance.

Williams鈥� coauthors are 乐播传媒 alumni Ben Schmandt 鈥�22, Gabrielle Smart 鈥�23, and Mfon Diduff 鈥�24, each of whom contributed to the research while working in the Williams lab as students.

Spanning three years, the 乐播传媒 research project studied TPhP exposure on zebrafish, a species that shares around 80 to 85 percent of its DNA with humans, making it an effective model for research on the effects of toxicants on both aquatic species and humans.

鈥淲ith toxicants, if you throw enough at [an organism], there will be an effect. But that doesn鈥檛 make it relevant. That鈥檚 why this paper is particularly exciting.鈥�

Larissa Williams

In the findings, says Williams, send a clarion call for more research. 鈥淲e know that TPhP is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that many organisms, including humans, are exposed to. Now we know that it is likely a developmental toxicant at environmentally relevant levels. That鈥檚 worrisome. It鈥檚 critical to understand the implications of that exposure.鈥�

The 乐播传媒 research exposed zebrafish to TPhP at everyday levels, which is in parts per billion, rather than parts per million, which most researchers have focused on.

“We were looking at exposure at the nanomolar level, a thousand times less concentrated than other studies had reported,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淲ith toxicants, if you throw enough at [an organism], there will be an effect. But that doesn鈥檛 make it relevant. That鈥檚 why this paper is particularly exciting.鈥�

The team discovered that parts-per-billion TPhP exposure harmfully affected developing zebrafish through multiple biological pathways, though the exact harmful mechanism is still not fully understood.

They found that TPhP-exposed zebrafish larvae were stunted in size and suffered from heart swelling (pericardial edema), both of which are also seen at higher exposure levels. The fish also suffered from oxidative stress, causing cell damage within hours of exposure.

Like many research endeavors, the 乐播传媒 project got inspiration from how researchers like Williams have long-running and productive collaborations with fellow researchers far from 乐播传媒.

Years ago, while reviewing a scholarly paper for a journal, Williams came across triphenyl phosphate 鈥渁s a novel obesogen, which is a chemical that interacts with your endocrine system or your hormonal system.鈥�

That led to conversations with two researcher collaborators who have expertise with toxicants, Kari Sant of Michigan State University and Alicia Timme-Laragy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Williams asked Sant, who is an expert in obesogens, 鈥淒o we know much about triphenyl phosphate in zebrafish?鈥� 鈥淣ot a ton,鈥� Sant replied. 鈥淵ou should go for it.鈥欌��

Fast forward to the start of the 2021鈥�22 academic year, the senior year of Ben Schmandt 鈥�22, and a conversation between Williams and Schmandt about their senior thesis project. Williams suggested looking at TPhP. 鈥淏en looked into the literature and found the level at which TPhP is found in surface waters. So that鈥檚 where we started, at the nanomolar level, a thousand times less than the micromolar level that everyone else has been working on.鈥�

Williams credits Schmandt for bringing urgency to the project. 鈥淏en was interested then, and continues to be interested now, in environmental contaminants. It was very important that the project be relevant, indicative of concentrations of this chemical that aquatic organisms see 鈥� that we get exposed to 鈥� versus levels that are already known to have an effect.鈥�

She says the project was 鈥渞ight up Ben鈥檚 alley, in terms of interest. Ben really ran with it. And then we further ran with it with Gabby and Mfon.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 been an amazing labor of love to turn a research project into a scientific publication,鈥� said Schmandt, who is now a research associate in the Claussnitzer Lab at the Broad Institute, working to understand how our genetic backgrounds impact the likelihood of developing heart disease. 鈥淚 know I wouldn’t be doing this work today without everything I learned from working with Larissa, Mfon, and Gabby on this project.鈥�

As an undergraduate at 乐播传媒, Schmandt 鈥渇elt torn for a long time between a love for the environment and a passion for laboratory work.鈥� The TPhP project united those two adversaries. 鈥淚 found a passion for the specific ways the environment and genetics interact. Across contexts of pollution and disease, these interactions highlight just how little we still understand about how our surroundings impact us through our genes 鈥� that’s the mystery that brings purpose to my research.鈥�

The research, conducted in Williams鈥� lab at the Bonney Science Center, involved exposing zebrafish larvae to TPhP over five days, a sufficient span to measure the chemical鈥檚 effects on this fast-growing species. That鈥檚 another reason that zebrafish are a magically effective research model. They grow from larva to adult in just 90 days, and are transparent. 鈥淎t the age of 48 hours, zebrafish have produced hemoglobin, so we can see the heart,鈥� Williams says.

The 乐播传媒 researchers photographed and measured the size of the larvae by looking at them under a stereoscope in Williams lab. The team then measured heart rates manually, observing each beat. Using a stopwatch, the researcher counts the number of heartbeats within a 30-second interval. The researchers also checked for swelling around the heart and scored it on a scale from 1 (severe swelling) to 5 (normal). And, to see if the chemical affected blood circulation, they used another microscope to capture heart movement and blood flow in the larvae.

Among other takeaways, the 乐播传媒 research success shines light on the college鈥檚 innovative and successful STEM Scholars program 鈥� which, along with other initiatives at 乐播传媒 鈥� has opened pathways and removed barriers for students interested in science, including coauthor and recent graduate Mfon Diduff, who majored in biochemistry.

She is now a research technician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center with eyes on a medical career. 鈥淚 had always loved science but never saw myself doing scientific research in the lab,鈥� she says.

Contributing to the research paper, specifically how TPhP in the environment negatively impacts overall organ development, has inspired her to learn 鈥渕ore about the factors that contribute to our health, specifically maternal health, as I intend on becoming an OB-GYN.鈥�

She now has a vision of her future self. 鈥淚 absolutely see being that physician who tends to the needs of her patients while also being a researcher who goes above and beyond to know why we see such occurrences that pose imminent danger in medicine and public health.鈥�

Each of the coauthors, said Williams, used the project to further their path toward purposeful work. Schmandt was inspired by the environmental science side, Diduff by the public health aspect, and Gabby Smart 鈥�23, now in veterinary school at Washington State, 鈥渨as really excited to be working with animals, which we find with a lot of our pre-vet students prior to vet school.鈥�

Smart notes that “animals may even be more affected by some of the chemicals we researched. Being in the veterinary field gives me a front row seat on how exposure to such chemicals affect animal health and longevity. I hope to continue to be an advocate for both environmental and animal health, which in turn will have a positive impact on human health.”

For the Williams lab, the next chapter in the research is to zero in on how and when TPhP does what it does to developing animals.

All developing animals, whether zebrafish larvae or human fetuses, 鈥渁re exposed to a lot of different chemicals,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚t’s really the timing of that exposure that really matters, what we call the window of susceptibility.鈥�

Alcohol is a familiar example. 鈥淎lcohol in a human fetus is highly toxic very early in pregnancy, but becomes less toxic as the fetus develops. If there is exposure early on, it has a much larger impact than later on. Many chemicals work that way. Part of what we do in our lab is to figure out that window.鈥�

With a new grant from Maine INBRE, the lab will do more precise toxicant testing at different stages of zebrafish development. 鈥淲e were able to show that chronic exposure over the entire developmental period impacted them. Now what we want to know is, as the heart’s developing and you add a toxicant, how does that change the trajectory of development?鈥�

That knowledge 鈥渨ill help us unpack the biological mechanisms behind the phenotypes that we’re seeing. That will be data used by my thesis students this coming year.鈥�

A new paper in Nature identifying lists five co-authors, including Professor Emeritus of Geology Mike Retelle.

But ask Retelle about his own contribution, and he鈥檒l point to the long line of talented 乐播传媒 students who鈥檝e supported his and other researchers’ climate-focused work in Svalbard, Norway, over the last two decades.

“Over the years, about 20 乐播传媒 students have gone to Svalbard for summer work or have stayed at the University Centre in Svalbard for a semester,鈥� he says. 鈥淢itchel Soederberg ’25 just returned from doing the winter semester, and Jamie Hollander ’24 was in our program last summer.鈥� 

Funded by a , the new research by Retelle and his fellow scientists used paleoclimatic data from the last 2,000 years, powerful computer modeling, and in-the-field research on lake sediments and tree rings to determine that certain types of weather over the last 2,000 years have often been due to a meteorological phenomenon known as “atmospheric blocking.”

Atmospheric blocking is what it sounds like: A large, stable weather pattern that blocks the usual movement of weather systems through an area. And in the Scandinavian Arctic, the researchers found that blocking patterns contribute to weather extremes, specifically periods of warm and very wet weather, which are becoming more frequent as the climate warms.

Retelle, who retired from the 乐播传媒 faculty in 2022, remains active in his research in Svalbard, a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean. A popular research site, the Svalbard archipelago is located halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole.

When atmospheric blocking events lead to heavy rainfall, the runoff, among other things, causes sediment particles and high levels of calcium to wash into Linn茅vatnet, a lake in southwest Svalbard. The coarsest sediments, which were consistently deposited during very heavy rainfall, were linked with atmospheric blocking events.

The sediment record from Linn茅vatnet shows that this pattern has been consistent for the past 2,000 years. The data also indicate that a long-term decrease in precipitation ended in the mid-1800s, and in recent years, as periods of blocking increased, the area experienced an uptick in extreme weather events. 

鈥淎s warming continues and sea ice recedes, future Svalbard floods will become more intense during episodes of….blocking,鈥� the paper reports.

Retelle鈥檚 contributions to the paper include doing field surveys and gathering sediment cores from the bottom of Linn茅vatnet, which offer scientists a historical record of environmental changes. This work, he says, wasn鈥檛 done alone.

鈥淲es Farnsworth ’11 was part of the project when we recovered the lake sediment cores described in the paper,鈥� Retelle says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 now with and was a , supported by the NSF grant.鈥�

In this video, researcher Wes Farnsworth ’11 retrieves a core sample from the lakebed of Linn茅vatnet, located on the west coast of Svalbard. Since 2012, Mike Retelle, seen wearing the red parka, has deployed such instrumentation, which provides crucial and precise data about the timing of sediment pouring into the lake during increasingly frequent rainstorms.

The work is ongoing. In fact, Retelle was on his way back to Svalbard for more research the day after the paper was published, practically passing 乐播传媒 student researchers in the air, including Soederberg, an earth and climate sciences major from Bedford, N.H. (The name of the 乐播传媒 major changed from geology to earth and climate sciences in 2020.)

The Svalbard work has created a real pipeline for 乐播传媒 students. Hollander, an earth and climate sciences major who graduated in June with honors, is now headed back to Svalbard. 鈥淪he was just awarded a Fulbright Student grant to study the release of methane, a greenhouse gas, as glaciers retreat,鈥� Retelle says.

Based at UiT鈥揟he Arctic University of Norway, Hollander will be affiliated with researchers Dimitri Kalenitchenko and Andrew Hodson (one of Retelle鈥檚 longtime collaborators). She will contribute to their exploration of the complex relationship between glacier melt, hydrological controls, and methane emissions. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a rock star,鈥� says Retelle.

As for Retelle, he will be in residence at the University Centre (UNIS) in Svalbard until late September. He is presently contributing lectures and field excursions to a doctoral and postdoc summer school for the Norwegian Academy for Polar Sciences, plus leading his regular summer teaching program for UNIS. 

鈥淲e got a new grant from the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund to go back for two years to keep up the hydroclimate monitoring, and I鈥檓 helping out in another UNIS glacier course,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is my semi-retirement!鈥�

From June 18 to 20, five NESCAC colleges 鈥� six if we round up 鈥� experienced a true heat wave with three consecutive days of 90-degree-plus temperatures.

In the spirit of that definition, we’ll use the sum total of degrees during the three days for this edition of our occasional ranking of NESCAC colleges on very cold or very hot days.

Lyrically and meteorologically, the late Glenn Frey hinted as what causes a heat wave with his 1984 hit, “The Heat Is On.”

“The heat is on,” he sang, adding, “the pressure’s high.” Exactly, Glenn! A high pressure system can lead to the kind of very hot weather all of us is ‘Cactown felt this week.

High pressure is partly defined by sinking air. And all across the ‘Cac, the sinking air underneath our resident high pressure dome got hotter as it became compressed by the high atmospheric pressure close to the Earth’s surface. It’s called “adiabatic warming,” the same phenomenon that creates warm to hot Santa Ana and Chinooks winds in the West.

Coolest to warmest, here’s our NESCAC Heat Poll for June 18鈥�20. The coolest customers were close to the prevailing south wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean; the hottest is within an .

For each college, the three-day total of degrees is followed by the high temperature on June 18, 19, and 20.

11.

How their mascot beats the heat: Camels use thick fur as insulation.

10.

How their mascot beats the heat: Cardinals seek shade, pant, bath, and hold their wings away from their bodies to increase airflow.

9.

How their mascot beats the heat: Panthers seek shade during heat of the day.

8.

How their mascot beats the heat: Polar bears swim in cold water and seek shade.

7.

How their mascot beats the heat: Mules seek shade, sweat, may roll in mud or water.

6.

How their mascot beats the heat: Bantams seek shade, pant, spread wings to increase airflow.

5.

How their mascot beats the heat: Alexander Hamilton fought the British in the Battle of Monmouth聽on June 28, 1779, in temperatures near 100 degrees, and it’s said that Continentals were allowed to remove their uniforms.

4. (at the college)

How their mascot beats the heat: Cows seek shade, reduce their activity, sweat.

3. (at the college)

How their mascot beats the heat: Uncertain what mammoths did, probably rarely encountering blistering heat.

2.

How our mascot beats the heat: Bobcats rest in shaded, cool areas during the heat of the day.

1. (at the university)

How their mascot beats the heat: Elephants flap ears and take mud and water baths; plus, their permeable skin helps them stay cool.

Temperatures are taken from Weather Underground reporting stations at or close to each campus. On-campus reporting stations are noted.

When Alan Wang 鈥�24 studied abroad in Kyoto, Japan, as a junior, he relished the seamless transportation options 鈥� bicycle, bus, train 鈥� that delivered him to classes at Doshisha University. 

But when Wang worked for the Maine Secretary of State鈥檚 Office last summer, he had to drive from Lewiston to Augusta, and it was a different experience. 鈥淓xhausting,鈥� he said.

The following semester, Wang read Better Buses, Better Cities. 鈥淥ne of the takeaways is people don’t use buses because buses don’t make themselves known to people,鈥� said Wang. 鈥淎 lot of students don’t even know the bus stop at 乐播传媒 exists. Building a bus shelter is the best way to remind them.鈥�

Those experiences sparked an interest in public transportation advocacy, so he went to work, doing research and turning to the college鈥檚 Green Innovation Grant program, which awards funds to 乐播传媒 community members for projects that make 乐播传媒 and the community more environmentally sustainable.

In the spring, Wang received a $2,000 Green Grant 鈥� one of four grants totalling $8,000 dispersed from the program this year 鈥� to help fund the construction of a more prominent and welcoming bus stop for the new Portland鈥揕ewiston commuter bus line . The project was one of four Green Grant projects funded this year.

The enclosed bus stop will be built near Gomes Chapel by the Maine Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee. While the $2,000 grant will pay for a fraction of the final cost 鈥� around $40,000 to $50,000 鈥� of the new 乐播传媒 bus stop, the private funding from the college also will help secure other matching state or federal transportation funds.  

Wang has met with community leaders in Lewiston and Auburn in his effort to bring an attractive public bus stop to campus, one of several new enclosed bus shelters in the two cities. 

鈥滺is advocacy for transit is strong,鈥� said Larry Allen, the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee director. 鈥淎lan espoused the benefits of consolidating transit activities between the two lines at one location on campus. This eliminates confusion and allows for the bundling of resources, such as infrastructure and capital resources.鈥�

With a 乐播传媒 politics degree now in hand, Wang, who is from Jiaozuo, China, will test his new interest in urban planning this summer in the Lincoln (Maine) County Regional Planning Department as a transportation planning assistant. 鈥淭his internship will give me a great lens on if I actually want to pursue this as my career,鈥� he said.

A second funded proposal from Gianluca Yornet de Rosas 鈥�24 of Mendoza, Argentina, who used his Green Grant to team up with Facility Services to add the first bird-safe window treatment at 乐播传媒. The idea came after he witnessed bird fatalities from strikes on the windows of his residence. 

Yornet, who hopes to go into environmental conservation work, grew up in the South American region around the Andes Mountains, where he was fascinated by the Andean Condor, the largest raptor in the world. The environmental studies major also knew that bird strikes on windows are a leading cause of avian mortality 鈥� resulting in up to an estimated 1 billion bird fatalities annually, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.聽

Because of the reflective and mirror qualities of window panes, birds often can鈥檛 detect the glass barrier. Yornet鈥檚 $2,000 grant funded the purchase and installation of several adhesive bird-safe window treatments that use tiny patterns to alert birds to the window.

He hopes it鈥檚 a good start. 鈥淢aybe if it stops the birds from colliding with the windows and dying, other students might continue the project, or this will be adopted into other buildings. I wanted to make sure it got done, even if it doesn鈥檛 solve the whole issue.鈥�

Another Green Grant grant will fund the installation of signage aimed at lessening contamination in recycling in residences. The idea was the brainchild of Caroline Mayer 鈥�26 of Wolfeboro, N.H., and Sarah Smith 鈥�26 of Severna Park, Md., two EcoReps who worked the past year on improving recycling habits around campus.

The signage will be placed right where students live: their rooms. 鈥淲e have good signage in all of the trash and recycling rooms, but the sorting is happening in the dorm room, not once you’re down in the trash room,鈥� said Tom Twist, assistant director of sustainability at 乐播传媒. 鈥淏y then, it’s already done.鈥�

The signs, affixed to the back doors of rooms, spell out the recyclable material 鈥� cardboard, plastic, paper containers, glass, and metal 鈥� and that all other items should go to the landfill. 鈥淲hen in doubt, throw it out,鈥� say the signs designed by Smith and Mayer, who plan to target first-year residences to instill good recycling practices at the start of their time at 乐播传媒.

Liza Bell 鈥�26 of Putney, Vt., won a GIG to resupply tools for the 乐播传媒 bike shop, a much needed purchase after a theft last summer depleted the supply.

The grant helped fund 30 new tools as well as a new lock system for the nine loaner bikes available to students. In addition, Bell said the grant helped keep those loaners in the Ladd Library gear library in good working order. As a result, usage increased this spring, with all nine bikes checked out much of the time.

鈥淭his project will contribute to the school’s green bike share program which makes biking on campus more accessible. By having the necessary tools and locks we will be able to continue to expand and improve the program,鈥� Bell explained in her proposal.

This story was updated on November 3, 2025 to reflect more recent information on the number of birds killed each year from window strikes.

The cover article in the scientific journal Nature published today 鈥� co-authored by 乐播传媒 Associate Professor of Physics Jeffrey Oishi 鈥� upends decades-old beliefs about the sun and solar phenomena that first captivated Galileo more than 400 years ago.

In the paper, Oishi and his seven co-authors offer the process that ebbs and flows on an 11-year solar cycle and is responsible for generating the sun鈥檚 magnetic field and other phenomena.

In sum, 鈥渙ur paper essentially claims that everything we thought we knew about the solar dynamo is wrong,鈥� says Oishi, who is chair of the 乐播传媒 Department of Physics and Astronomy and the principal investigator of a major recent grant that positions 乐播传媒 to play a crucial role in the study and teaching of solar-terrestrial physics.

Oishi, the sole author from an undergraduate liberal arts college, says that better understanding of the solar dynamo has real-world implications for understanding and predicting phenomena like solar flares (which caused a brilliant and rare display of northern lights in Maine earlier in May) and coronal mass ejections, both of which are known to disrupt satellites, communication systems, and power grids on Earth, as well as sunspot activity.

鈥淚 like to point out,鈥� says Oishi, 鈥渁s does our first author [Geoffrey Vasil of the University of Edinburgh], that the problem of the solar dynamo, in one sense, is one of the oldest problems of the scientific era, starting when Galileo first observed and made his extensive drawings of sunspots.鈥�

For decades, scientists have believed that the solar dynamo occurred deep within the sun, in a layer called the tachocline, a term coined by one of Oishi鈥檚 mentors, Edward Spiegel, and Jean-Paul Zahn in 1992 as an analogy to the oceanic thermocline. 

鈥淓veryone assumed that the dynamo begins about 30 percent down into the sun,鈥� says Oishi. Using ever-greater computing power to run simulations, scientists have tried to support this theory, 鈥渢rying the same ideas, getting results from bigger and bigger and bigger supercomputer simulations,鈥� Oishi said. 

But results 鈥渄idn鈥檛 really look like the sun.鈥� The result, Oishi says, is that 鈥渟olar dynamo theory has been stuck. None of the ideas were really leading anywhere.鈥�

Oishi and his colleagues developed a whole new approach, suggesting that the dynamo 鈥渙perates near the surface, in the sun’s outermost layers,鈥� specifically within the top 5 or 10 percent of its surface, known as the Near-Surface Shear Layer. 

To develop the theory, the team used previously established knowledge 鈥渃reated from 40 to 400 years ago,鈥� Oishi says, including helioseismic studies (a method similar to how earthquakes are studied on Earth). 

They deployed good old-fashioned mathematics and ran numerical simulations using supercomputing power, which was Oishi鈥檚 contribution to the research. Such calculations 鈥渞equire massive amounts of new kinds of computational tools and techniques that didn’t exist before to do calculations that would just otherwise not be possible,鈥� he said. 

鈥淚’ve been working on MRI in many contexts for 20 years. We are not the first people to invoke it in relation to the sun, but we are the first people to invoke it at the surface of the sun.鈥�

Jeffrey Oishi

While the specific simulations were done on computers away from 乐播传媒, Oishi did use the college鈥檚 high-performance computing cluster, developed shortly after his arrival at 乐播传媒, 鈥渢o develop the tools, the , which definitely made huge use of the high performance computing center here at 乐播传媒.鈥� 

To buttress the theory that the solar dynamo occurs in the sun鈥檚 outermost layers, the researchers drew on the idea of Magneto-Rotational Instability. Well known in the study of the gas and dust disks that orbit young stars, it describes the instability in rotating magnetized flows that serves to amplify magnetic fields.

鈥淚’ve been working on MRI in many contexts for 20 years,鈥� says Oishi. 鈥淲e are not the first people to invoke it in relation to the sun, but we are the first people to invoke it at the surface of the sun.鈥�

The researchers contend that conditions on the surface of the sun are just right to create MRI, which in turn is thought to play an important role in sustaining the sun’s magnetic field through the dynamo effect.

Oishi says that this new knowledge puts scientists on the right path toward being able to someday make more accurate predictions about the sun鈥檚 solar cycle and concomitant high solar activity, mitigating the potential impacts to life on Earth. 鈥淏y improving our knowledge of the sun’s magnetic cycle, we can better predict these space weather events and protect our technology and infrastructure,鈥� Oishi says.

In technical terms, Oishi describes his field as non-equilibrium statistical physics. Practically speaking, that means that he is 鈥減retty interdisciplinary. Some people are really interested in this kind of butterfly, that kind of tree, or this astronomical object. I’m not like that. I’m more of a technique person.鈥�

鈥淚f it鈥檚 complicated enough that it’s interesting, and it’s simple enough that we can make a mathematical model of it, then I鈥檓 in.鈥�

Studies have identified a troubling gap in U.S. higher education between the percentage of students who arrive at college hoping to major in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and math) and the much lower percentage who graduate with such a major.聽

Statistics show that the fall-off is even higher among Black and Hispanic students.

At 乐播传媒, new approaches to teaching STEM subjects have yielded dramatic results over the last six years: improved retention outcomes for all students and particularly within the college’s Black and Hispanic students.聽聽聽

鈥淭his is exactly the kind of institutional change we want for our students.”

乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins

The ratio of 乐播传媒 students who enter with STEM hopes and are able to stay with a STEM major is now higher than national averages, including when compared to 乐播传媒鈥� peer institutions, highly selective four-year institutions.聽

STEM-interested 乐播传媒 students who are Black are now more than 50 percent more likely to earn a STEM degree than they were in 2016, according to data from 乐播传媒 and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

鈥淭his is exactly the kind of institutional change we want for our students,鈥� said President Garry W. Jenkins.

鈥淥ur STEM faculty has been intensely focused on creating more equitable educational opportunities. These findings show how successful their innovations have already been. It鈥檚 exciting for our institution, our students, and prospective students. The data shows that 乐播传媒 is one of the absolute very best places in the country to study mathematics and the sciences, and every student interested in STEM should give 乐播传媒 very serious consideration. 鈥� 

April Horton is the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM at 乐播传媒 and a national expert in equity and inclusion in the sciences. Horton said that 乐播传媒鈥� effort to improve equity for marginalized students and be more inclusive has led to improvements in outcomes across the board.

鈥淥ur classes are changed for everyone,鈥� said Horton. 鈥淚f you look at the data, you see that the white students do better, too. Everyone does better because you have a way of teaching that really engages every student and that has a variety of ways that people can learn.鈥�

Horton came to 乐播传媒 in 2018 from the University of Richmond, where she chaired the biology department and helped create more equitable STEM programs. She arrived at 乐播传媒 confident in her methods for building more inclusive teaching, and found many willing partners, but together, they faced an uphill battle.

At the time, 鈥淪TEM at 乐播传媒 had a negative reputation,鈥� Horton said, citing past student surveys and data that showed Black students leaving for other majors. 鈥淎nd I think we’ve worked really hard to change that.鈥�

Last November, Horton present the 乐播传媒 findings at an American Association of Colleges and Universities conference focusing on transforming STEM higher education. Afterward, she was approached by other academics who expressed surprise at how quickly 乐播传媒 improved its methods and outcomes.

鈥淭hey were saying, 鈥業 just didn’t think you could do this in just a few years, but you’ve shown that you can,鈥欌�� said Horton. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 my belief that if a school changes their practices and the way that their curriculum is set up with the existing populations of students, they can increase the number of students that are persisting and not just persisting but actually doing really well in STEM.鈥�

乐播传媒 has found that making changes in the teaching approach in various areas of STEM courses, such as diving into real life research problems in introductory courses, can make a real difference in serving diverse populations well in academia, Horton said. 

Horton credits her 乐播传媒 colleagues across all STEM subjects, who, beginning in 2017, took a hard look at student surveys and outcomes and saw a problem with how they were getting through to marginalized students, for doing the hard work of changing the curriculum. 鈥淚 have a huge amount of admiration for my colleagues here,鈥� Horton said.

Changes in introductory 乐播传媒 courses with longstanding reputations as the kind that 鈥渨eeded鈥� students out are particularly striking. Once lecture-based, those courses focused on textbooks, 鈥渃ookbook labs鈥� (where the outcomes are known) and high-stake exams.

Among the changes were how faculty approach teaching these courses, by emphasizing a growth mindset that focuses on . 

The faculty also focus on skill building and active learning, with real-world problems that were unresolved. (Such as would feeding dairy cows seaweed reduce the harmful methane emissions from dairy herds that contribute to climate change?) And they offered multiple paths through the core curriculum in the biology department.

When it came time to assess the new courses, the equity gap had not only narrowed sharply, but success rates for all students had improved between 2019 and 2023.

The Data Says…

To evaluate its progress, 乐播传媒 has compared its retention of students who are interested in STEM majors with data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The results suggest impressive progress.

This table compares the most recent national data (2017) for highly-selective four-year institutions to 乐播传媒 data. The percentages represent those arriving with an interest in a STEM major and then graduating with a STEM major:

Within 乐播传媒 data, notable finding is that Black students interested in STEM are 50 percent more likely to graduate with a STEM degree at 乐播传媒 than they were prior to the curricular revisions.

Today, even the way 乐播传媒 students talk about their STEM education reflects progress, said Horton. 鈥淒uring the first year of our program, when students were asked to describe the culture of STEM at 乐播传媒, two of the most frequent words used were 鈥渃ompetitive鈥� and 鈥渃hallenging.鈥�

But last year the most frequent words used to describe the culture of STEM at 乐播传媒 were 鈥渋nclusive,鈥� followed by 鈥渃ollaborative鈥� and 鈥渟upportive.鈥�