At 乐播传媒, student researchers are empowered to ask and answer big questions across numerous fields of study. They tackle everything from human biology and marine ecology, to literature reviews of legal movements and the politics of memory, to media analysis of film, literature, and television.

On April 10, more than 200 of these student researchers presented their work to the 乐播传媒 community and their family and friends during the annual Mount David Summit in Pettengill Hall. 

鈥淢ount David is not just a harbinger of spring and the nearing conclusion of the winter semester, though it is those things,鈥� 乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins said during the day鈥檚 opening remarks. 鈥淚t’s also a chance for our community to come together to celebrate the academic heart of our mission. And it’s an extraordinary opportunity for 乐播传媒 students to show off their research, their brilliant and insightful analysis, and their dazzling creativity.鈥�

In between attending student-led talks and panels, attendees weaved through rows of posters on display in Pettengill鈥檚 Perry Atrium. The room was buzzing with questions, and students were eager to answer, discussing their research methods, their main takeaways, and why they were motivated to pursue their projects.

Most of the student researchers were presenting their senior thesis work, representing the culmination of their 乐播传媒 academic careers. Mount David Summit is a day to celebrate student achievement and the people who supported the students along the way, said Joanne Roberts, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

鈥淚t takes a village to bring an idea from its first spark through its final expression, and we owe a huge thank you to everyone involved, from our committed faculty, to our stellar academic staff, and our invaluable research librarians,鈥� Roberts said.

Learn more about a few of the 200-plus student projects from across disciplines:

STEM

Biology major Zoe Ash 鈥�26 of New York City presented a poster on bottle-nose dolphins鈥� social behavior as it corresponds to how often they do or don鈥檛 follow boats. She conducted research while studying abroad in Croatia, where a day in the lab looked like spending hours on a boat sailing over the Adriatic Sea, snapping photos of dolphins.

鈥淢y favorite discovery from this project was that we see higher social associations in dolphins that follow boats less frequently than we do in dolphins that follow boats more frequently or not at all. 鈥� It tells you that discreet communities are forming,鈥� Ash said.

Also presenting a poster was Enathe Muhawenimana 鈥�26 of Rusizi, Rwanda, a double major in biology and French and Francophone studies, whose project investigated why skin infections are often more severe in patients with diabetes. Her research determined that high glucose level in a diabetic patient was correlated with a higher severity of skin infection. She hopes that her work could be used to advance antibiotic or other therapeutic treatment for diabetes patients.

鈥淟earning about this is so rewarding to me, but it can help people out there as well,鈥� Muhawenimana said.

During an afternoon presentation by members of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Community-Engaged Research Fellowship Program, seven students shared their senior thesis projects. Mathematics major Hope Stafford 鈥�26 of Mountain View, Calif., shared her research on flooding patterns in Providence, R.I. Using a community flood-reporting app called MyCoast, Stafford discovered that floods were likely caused not only by rainfall but also by infrastructure varying across the city.

鈥淭he reason I was using this [app] is to emphasize community voice,鈥� Stafford said. 鈥淲e really want to focus on floods that community members are pointing out.鈥�

During that same panel, neuroscience major Ariya Tayal 鈥�26 of Pittsburgh, Penn., shared her research on how women who are experiencing homelessness access reproductive health resources, a project inspired by Tayal鈥檚 experience working as an emergency room technician and noticing that many women she had met through volunteering in the Lewiston-Auburn community were coming to the ER to access primary care.

鈥淭hat’s such a sad thing to see in our healthcare system,鈥� Tayal said. 鈥淧eople should not be finding out if they鈥檙e pregnant or not at the ER. That’s not appropriate.鈥� 

For her research, Tayal interviewed 19 local women experiencing homelessness and distributed disposable cameras among them for a research method called photovoice, during which participants document their lived experiences and narratives by taking photographs.

In a panel on STEM research, James Hillers 鈥�26 of De Witt, N.Y., presented his research, entitled 鈥淎gent-Based Modeling of Sponge and Algae Endosymbioses.鈥� Looking closely at the relationship between sponge and algae, Hillers used simulations to determine that even though these two symbionts are 鈥渃omparatively unfit,鈥� they thrive together. 

鈥淚 really like making the visualizations,鈥� Hillers said. 鈥淲henever you’re doing computational work, you produce a lot of data, and it’s kind of a pain to do individual visualization. So getting to create robust scripts that can take a ton of data and visualize it into super nice experimental stuff is super fun.鈥�

In the same panel, Gemma DeCarolis 鈥�26 of Santa Monica, Calif., presented research drawn from her summer internship at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. The 2024 hurricane season resulted in significant vegetation loss, and DeCarolis studied the impact on sea turtle nesting.

鈥淚 was able to take nesting data, disorientation data, and aerial imagery from Sarasota County GIS,鈥� DeCarolis said. 鈥淎fter I’d done all of this quantification and worked with the data, I did statistical analysis in R, using generalized linear models and beta regressions.鈥� She hopes to continue parts of this research as she moves forward with her studies. 

Social Sciences

Economics major Willa Laski 鈥�26 of Bellevue, Idaho, presented a poster on her senior thesis research investigating the relationship between the reintroduction of the gray wolf to the western U.S. and the livestock ranching industry in that region. Laski鈥檚 research found that lethal control of wolf populations did not have a statistically significant effect on livestock depredation 鈥� meaning that controlling wolf populations with lethal measures did not meaningfully impact, positively or negatively, livestock populations.

During a panel called 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Law Got To Do With It?鈥� three senior politics students shared thesis research that explored the law and legal questions. Their presentations covered centuries of U.S. court precedent and legal writing 鈥� from research by Matthew Peeler of New York City exploring intricacies of legal language dating as far back as the 1700s, to research by Sammy Freeman of Dallas exploring how religious exercise arguments from a Jewish standpoint could be used to advocate for abortion access, to a literature review by Reese Hillman of Wayne, Penn., investigating division in the conservative legal movement during President Donald J. Trump鈥檚 second term in office.

鈥淢y thesis comes out of my desire to make sense of some of Donald Trump’s more puzzling legal actions this year,鈥� Hillman said. 

And as psychology major and community-engaged research fellow Katie Heumann 鈥�26 of Ann Arbor, Mich., shared during the Harward Center鈥檚 presentation, civic engagement can begin long before adulthood. Heumann researched how students experience civic engagement in elementary school classrooms in Lewiston through collective participation and norms like classroom jobs, development of individual agency, and socialization.

鈥淎 lot of these classrooms really fostered pro- social behaviors,鈥� Heumann said. 鈥淭hese were things like respect and kindness, but more importantly, inclusivity. Being a friend to all, celebrating one another, being inclusive, being friends to boys and girls were some of the key things that students talked about.

Arts and Humanities

Lining the walls of Perry Atrium, on the edge of the bustling crowds at the poster presentation, were more than 50 photos from the Barlow Off-Campus Study Photography exhibition featuring countries like Nepal, Chile, Hungary, France, Japan, China, and the Netherlands. 

Some students, like religious studies major Shay Campolongo 鈥�26 of Midlothian, Va., found ways to incorporate visual art into their thesis projects on other subjects. For her thesis research on how people understand and memorialize the United States鈥� Japanese-American internment camps during World War II, with particular attention to memorialization of Buddhists in the camps, Campolongo invited 乐播传媒 faculty, staff, and students to two listening sessions prior to Mount David Summit where she presented her research, led discussions, and invited attendees to fold paper cranes. These cranes, made in every color of the rainbow and with intricate patterns, lined her poster during Mount David Summit.

鈥淛apanese-American internment is a piece of history that is often forgotten, but especially the Buddhist lens, and the way that it was not only racially but religiously motivated,鈥� Campolongo said.

Catalina Passino 鈥�26 of Leesburg, Va., a community-engaged research fellow who presented during the Harward Center鈥檚 panel, connected her psychology thesis research to visual art, inspired by her experience taking ceramics classes at 乐播传媒.

鈥淚 was just amazed about how clay affected me and the restorative effects that I felt personally,鈥� Passino said. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥楳an, we should study this beyond just me.鈥欌��

Passino organized an eight-week clay workshop for children in the Lewiston-Auburn immigrant and refugee community and observed how the children experienced mindfulness, resilience, belonging, and emotional regulation throughout the workshop. For their final project, Passino asked the children to create a clay pot that represented each of them, resulting in a collection of unique pieces that Passino displayed in Olin Arts Center. 

Connor Gerraughty 鈥�26 of Hartsdale, N.Y., presented work on synoptic surveillance in The Truman Show, a project which emerged after a patient process of selecting just the right film and finding just the right lens through which to read the film. Though he certainly learned about Foucault and film along the way, his biggest takeaway was about the writing process. 鈥淭here is no perfect, is what I realized,鈥� Gerraughty said. 鈥淚t’s basically just improving and improving. You could work on it forever and you could still make it better.鈥� 

In response, his advisor, Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano said, 鈥淚’m so heartened to hear that it wasn’t going to be perfect and you’re okay with that. I love it. My job here is done.鈥�

Hadley Blodgett 鈥�26 of Buckfield, Maine, spends a lot of time thinking about just that 鈥� time.

In a laboratory in Carnegie Science Hall, as she conducts research for her senior thesis, Blodgett gazes over 7,000 years of history condensed into a sediment core extracted from a lake in northern Greenland. As a double major in earth and climate sciences and music, with a minor in religious studies, Blodgett enjoys reflecting on the way that time has constructed and altered her fields of study. Sometimes, when the immensity of the sediment sample鈥檚 past hits her, she thinks, 鈥淗ow am I holding this?鈥�

鈥淭o think about the scale of what’s in front of me is just kind of crazy,鈥� Blodgett says.

How exactly did sediment buried deep beneath Arctic waters find its way to the surface, then to 乐播传媒? The story crosses oceans and icebergs, tundras and deserts, but connects to 乐播传媒 through Blodgett鈥檚 thesis advisor, Associate Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences Nick Balascio.

As a paleoclimatologist, Balascio studies how Earth鈥檚 climate system has changed across millennia, primarily through analyzing lake sediment cores, which are layers of mud, dirt, and organic material extracted from the bottom of lakes in long tubes.

鈥淭hose lakes are natural history books that record what’s going on around the watershed of the lake as well as within the lake itself,鈥� Balascio says. 

In 2022, Balascio helped launch the Wandel Dal Project, a multi-national scientific effort investigating climate conditions of ancient Greenland, with support from a National Science Foundation grant. The project is studying Wandel Dal 鈥� a remote, uninhabited arctic desert valley less than 500 miles from the North Pole in Greenland鈥檚 Peary Land. Beneath its icy facade, Peary Land is a wealth of Greenlandic history, the one-time home of the island鈥檚 first people who crossed into the region from northern Canada.听

Over the past 4,500 years, Peary Land was inhabited and then abandoned by three different groups of indigenous people. The Wandel Dal scientists hypothesize that migration in and out of the region corresponded with climate fluctuations 鈥� people occupied the area in warmer climate periods, then left when the climate began to cool again and the area became more difficult to live in because of dwindling natural resources. 

鈥淭hese are people with stone tool technology living in a pretty harsh and foreboding environment,鈥� Balascio says.

By understanding Peary Land鈥檚 past climate contexts, scientists will gain a better overall understanding of how changing climate conditions affect the Arctic, which is already warming about four times faster than average global warming rates under anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change.

鈥淭here is very little coverage of this high Arctic region in terms of what we know about the past climate history,鈥� Balascio says. 鈥淚t’s right at the margins of the Greenland ice sheet, so understanding the sensitivity to climate change is really important.鈥� 

In the summer of 2024, Balascio and colleagues traveled to Peary Land to collect lake sediment cores. They flew to Svalbard, Norway, then chartered a plane to eastern Greenland, flew in a prop plane to Wandel Dal, and finally rode in a helicopter to their research site, where stone tools and tent sites made by ancient humans still littered the barren landscape.

鈥淲orking in these extremely remote and remarkable landscapes is inspiring as an earth scientist, to see the natural beauty that the earth has,鈥� Balascio says.

It was the end of July, the beginning of the brief and only time of year when Wandel Dal鈥檚 lakes are not frozen, a necessity for obtaining lake sediment cores. Balascio and colleagues set up coring platforms on inflatable rafts and guided large, heavy tubes called corers overboard into the 200-foot-deep lakes to collect six-meter long sediment samples.

The sediment cores, several of which are now stored in 乐播传媒鈥� core storage facility in Carnegie鈥檚 basement, have been a fantastic resource for students, Balascio says. In addition to Blodgett, Fletcher Libre 鈥�26 of Alta, Utah, and Zach Van Dusen 鈥�25 also used the cores for their senior theses in earth and climate sciences. The samples 鈥渁re very precious,鈥� Balascio says. 鈥淚 feel fortunate that we have those here at 乐播传媒 and that 乐播传媒 students can literally put their hands on these really remarkable records and learn about an environment that they might never travel to but can experience in some way.鈥澨�

While Blodgett hasn鈥檛 been to the Wandel Dal region, she did have the opportunity to visit Greenland听during a trip with Balascio to Nuuk, Greenland鈥檚 capital, for Greenland Science Week in November 2025. The trip was funded by Balascio鈥檚 NSF grant, which includes funds for supporting student research and mentorship. Blodgett was so excited by the opportunity that she hardly allowed herself to believe it was real until she was on the way to Greenland.听

鈥淭his is just too cool to happen,鈥� Blodgett thought to herself. 鈥淎nd then, I was on a plane.鈥�

Presenting her thesis research during the conference and at a community outreach event, Blodgett contributed new scientific discoveries that could have implications far beyond her own project. 

When she began her thesis research on the sediment cores in the summer of 2025, Blodgett was surprised by how clearly she could tell time from changes in the sample鈥檚 composition. The sediment follows a fairly consistent pattern 鈥� denser sediment for what were likely warmer climate periods, less dense sediment for cooler periods 鈥� until the top four centimeters.

Blodgett initially thought she was doing something wrong when she began analyzing that top section and had trouble pulling out a 鈥減lug,鈥� a sample of sediment removed for detailed analysis. She took a closer look and observed thick, laminated layers of sediment building up the top and newest portion, strikingly different from the millimeter-sized, less dense layers of sediment that comprised the rest of the sample.

鈥淪omething in the climate is causing the environment to react in such a way that it makes this sediment deposit in a different way than it has for the entire rest of the record,鈥� Blodgett says. 

She鈥檚 hypothesizing that this top portion of the sample is reflecting changes caused by anthropogenic climate change.

鈥淚 don’t know why [sediment cores] fascinate me, but I just really enjoy working with them,鈥� Blodgett says. 鈥淏efore I started all this, I had no clue what they were. I’m always open to doing new things.鈥�

Trying new things has defined Blodgett鈥檚 乐播传媒 career. She arrived on campus planning to major in history but pivoted to earth and climate sciences after taking the Short Term course 鈥淪oil Geography of New England鈥� and realizing how much she enjoyed working with soil 鈥� and the way that this work allowed her to discover more about the Maine land she grew up exploring.

鈥淚 definitely have an appreciation for just how important [the land] can be culturally and the need to treat it with respect,鈥� Blodgett says. 

This idea of respect for the land and awareness of its value to its inhabitants, past and present, is a central tenet of the Wandel Dal Project. As a cradle of the country鈥檚 civilization, Peary Land is of great cultural significance to the Greenlandic people. The Wandel Dal scientists are supporting a Greenland National Museum initiative to rename the region 鈥� currently named for American explorer Robert Peary 鈥� to 鈥淚nutoqqat Nunaat,鈥� meaning 鈥渓and of the ancient people鈥� in Greenlandic. A team of archaeologists are also a part of the Wandel Dal Project and investigating the human history of northern Greenland. 

When he began his career as a paleoclimatologist, Balascio wasn鈥檛 particularly focused on the human aspect of the landscapes he was studying. But, over time, as he began collaborating with archaeologists to study Viking settlements in Norway or the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, where human impact on the land is undeniable, Balascio became more and more interested in understanding how human history is interlaced with climate history. Working with the archaeologists in Wandel Dal in particular 鈥渂ecame a very enriching experience and gave me a new perspective on this field of study that I had been working on previously for a decade,鈥� Balascio says.

During Greenland Science Week, while chatting with scientists and archaeologists, and showing eager kids artifacts from Wandel Dal, Blodgett, too, was reminded of the key role that people and culture play in her field.

鈥淵ou get so disconnected from the 鈥榩eople part鈥� sometimes in climate science, even though people are such an important part of it,鈥� Blodgett says.

The trip to Nuuk was also an opportunity for Blodgett to field advice from scientists about graduate school and research as she prepares for life after 乐播传媒. Balascio has been an attentive mentor in that sense as well, Blodgett says. While guiding her through her thesis research, he鈥檚 helped her explore opportunities at 乐播传媒 and beyond. 

鈥淣o matter where I end up after May,鈥� Blodgett says, 鈥淚 know for certain that the trajectory of my career has been changed because of the guidance shown to me by Professor Balascio and so many essential people in the 乐播传媒 community.鈥�

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 2524995 to 乐播传媒 College and 2126047 to College of William & Mary. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

During her first semester at 乐播传媒, Hannah McKenzie 鈥�21 co-taught a class at Lewiston’s Immigrant Resource Center of Maine for English-language learners.

Her fellow teacher was Hamza Abdi, an academic administrative assistant at 乐播传媒. In the middle of each class, Abdi would leave and then reappear with two cups of traditional Somali tea. 鈥淔lavored with spices like cinnamon and cardamom and sweetened in condensed milk,” McKenzie remembers. 鈥淚 loved that tea.鈥澨�

She assumed he was making it in the break room, only to learn months later that he was buying it in the market downstairs. She told Abdi that she didn鈥檛 want him spending his money on her. 鈥淎fter all, if I come to the center twice weekly for four years, that鈥檚 a lot of money.”

Abdi laughed, pointing out a cultural pride point. In Djiboutian and other Eastern African cultures, he said, money is best for gestures of sharing and听 appreciation.

“Someone in his culture doesn鈥檛 鈥榣ose鈥� money,” McKenzie learned. “People essentially take turns paying for their friends.鈥�

Flash forward to the pandemic summer of 2020. Supported by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, McKenzie is now a Bonner Leader who splits her time between two remote summer internships, with IRCM and another agency that supports new Mainers, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project.

Recalling tea time with Abdi three years ago, McKenzie has still found ways to support and connect with the local immigrant community in person, including making regular stops at Lisbon Street鈥檚 Heritage Restaurant for a cup of tea 鈥� a small purchase that reminds her of that early and big cultural lesson she learned as a first-year.

Since she will live off-campus and cook for herself in the fall, 鈥淚 look forward to getting whatever groceries I can here,鈥� she says. And she鈥檒l keep getting tea at the Heritage Restaurant.

鈥淚 really appreciate the culture of collectivity that surrounds it. These kinds of cultural lessons are what have made my experience of Lewiston and my studies of anthropology at 乐播传媒 so eye-opening and so meaningful.鈥澨�

Here鈥檚 what other 乐播传媒 students with 乐播传媒-funded summer internships and academic fellowships said about how those in-person experiences have been guiding forces for what they want to do in life.

Anna Maheu ’21 of New York City

Major: Religious Studies

Project: St. Mary鈥檚 Nutrition Center, a food security organization for food insecure and otherwise vulnerable families, with integrated programs including urban community gardens, children鈥檚 gardening and cooking programs, cooking and nutrition education programs, youth leadership programs, food access initiatives, and a food pantry.

Funding: Harward Center Summer Civic Fellows funded through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships

Focus: Supporting the Nutrition Center鈥檚 various gardens throughout Lewiston-Auburn, maintaining educational gardens, assisting the food pantry in its efforts to adapt to COVID-19 through food deliveries, and the Good Food Bus.

Location: Lewiston, Maine

Student says: Living and working in the Lewiston community has taught me a lot about what it really means to invest in the place one calls home. I鈥檝e had the opportunity to work so closely with individuals who have committed themselves to connecting community members to food, land, and each other. I鈥檝e also been given a ground-level look at the myriad ways that food justice and access is pursued.

听The experience has reaffirmed how fundamental food and soil are to the lives we live, the power structures we must work against, and the relationships we cultivate.

Josiah Krul ’21 of Rockport, Maine

Major: Psychology

Project: Points North Institute, an organization that hosts the annual Camden International Film Festival, the primary project he helped to produce.

Funding: Purposeful Work initiative

Focus: The usual venue for the Festival鈥檚 event, the Camden Opera House, closed temporarily due to the pandemic, so PNI decided to build a drive-in movie theater, creating a new听 venue for the 2020 festival.

Location: Rockport, Maine

Student says: I’ve learned to be comfortable rolling with the punches.

After a rapid few weeks of planning and construction, the Shotwell Drive-In opened on July 16, offering the Mid-coast community a fun and safe social activity outside the house.

听The Purposeful Work-funded internship provides challenges that push the team and me to discover innovative and efficient solutions. The internship has encouraged me to learn new skills, whether it be coding new pages for the website, constructing panels for a drive-in movie screen, or organizing volunteer opportunities for events.

听Working with PNI has further shown me how much I enjoy working with community members to provide people from all walks in life with a reason to smile.

Georgia Moses ’21 of Arlington, Mass.

Major: Politics

Project: Working with Hillview Family Development, a public housing community in Lewiston that provides affordable housing and a variety of resources for the families that live there.

Funding: Harward Center Summer Civic Fellows funded through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships

Focus: Developing and leading socially-distanced art programming with children at Hillview and planning for 乐播传媒 student remote engagement with the organization in the fall.

Location: Lewiston, Maine

Student says: Many of the kids I’m working with haven鈥檛 participated in activities in a structured way since March. I鈥檓 learning that they are incredibly eager to put their minds to work and spend time outside around others. I鈥檓 not sure they miss school per se, but they鈥檙e itching to do things. It’s been exciting to watch and has made the project successful.

听I鈥檝e learned that working with kids during a pandemic is a challenge. I鈥檝e had to set a lot of ground rules in order for the programming to run smoothly and safely, from distancing to mask wearing to hand sanitizing. That said, I鈥檝e been really impressed by the level of understanding these kids have. They clearly know the importance of keeping themselves and their communities safe and healthy.

Gabriele Gucagaite ’21 of Kaunas, Lithuania

Major: Chemistry

Project: Visualizing Engrams

Funding: Faculty Grant

Focus: Working with Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Andrew Kennedy to create slides and images that show, through fluorescent imaging of brain proteins, actual mouse memories, such as a specific taste or smell. The research also involves altering or enhancing the memories that a mouse has.

Location: 乐播传媒 College

Student says: It is awe inspiring to be able to look at a neuronal network coding for a specific learning experience. It feels like looking at a map of someone’s mind, even if that someone is a mouse. I wonder what kind of map my memories of this research formed.

James Calhoon ’21 of Menlo Park, Calif.

Majors: Biology and Economics

Project: Species Interaction in a Changing Ocean

Funding: 乐播传媒 Environmental Internship

Focus: Studying the feeding preferences of green and red sea urchins, and how those choices might be affected by an invasive brown seaweed, Sargassum muticum.

Location: Friday Harbor Laboratories is a marine biology field station of the College of the Environment, University of Washington, located on San Juan Island.

Student says: The labs buzz with scientific curiosity, and everyone is very invested and interested in other people鈥檚 research, making it a welcoming community. Above all I really appreciate the resources that [Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology] Katie [Dobkowski] and the labs have provided in allowing me the freedom and creativity to set up and conduct my own independent research. I have never before been the lead researcher on a project and it has been extremely valuable in thinking through a project from start to finish.

Hannah Golub 鈥�21 of Bellaire, Texas

Major: Psychology

Project: St. Mary鈥檚 Nutrition Center, a food security organization for food insecure and otherwise vulnerable families, the Nutrition Center鈥檚 integrated programs include urban community gardens, children鈥檚 gardening and cooking programs, cooking and nutrition education programs, youth leadership programs, food access initiatives, and a food pantry.

Funding: Harward Center Summer Civic Fellows funded through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships

Focus: With the arrival of the pandemic, Golub鈥檚 original summer assignment to run the children鈥檚 gardening program changed. She has helped to distribute food by packaging hundreds of bags filled with produce and perishables and staffing a mobile farmer鈥檚 market. She鈥檚 also听 prepared at-home activities for summer school students. And spent a great deal of time outside, being essentially an urban farmer.

Location: Lewiston, Maine

Student says: This summer certainly looks a lot different from what I expected. I did not realize how many gardens I would get to work in and how that would enrich the experience.

听I feel like I have the best of both worlds because I still get to spend a lot of time in the gardens, but now I鈥檓 learning and taking part in the food security and distribution programs of St. Mary’s.

Hannah McKenzie ’21 of Stevenson, Md.

Major: Anthropology

Project: The Immigrant Resource Center of Maine and Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project

Funding: 听Harward Summer Civic Fellows funded through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships

Focus: For IRCM, working primarily with Executive Director Fatuma Hussein, providing grant-writing assistance for culturally-specific, gender-based violence prevention and survivor support programs. Also, continuing to teach IRCM English Class, which she has taught since her first semester at 乐播传媒. For ILAP, working under the guidance of staff attorney Alice Kopij, primarily researching听 conditions in immigrants鈥� countries of origin to be used for developing legal cases. She鈥檚 also worked on a self guide for people making pro se citizenship applications.

Location: Lewiston, Maine

Student says: We鈥檙e in a time of multiple crises, and it鈥檚 felt incredibly valuable to be a part of the Lewiston community鈥檚 response to them. I鈥檝e seen how refugee and immigrant staff from IRCM are working so tirelessly to support their community鈥攔esponding to needs, from advocating for local government health support to coordinating rides for their neighbors to go to the doctor for COVID-19 tests when they can鈥檛 drive themselves.

It鈥檚 been inspiring to see, too, how these local organizations partner together; often, I鈥檓 in a Zoom meeting and notice that my supervisors from both organizations are present on the call. I鈥檝e seen how Lewiston communities collaborate and help each other, and that鈥檚 given me hope.

I鈥檝e also spent a lot of time this summer thinking about what my role is鈥攁nd what it can鈥檛 be鈥攊n work supporting the refugee community. This is not my community as it is for the staff with whom I work at IRCM. I鈥檓 learning to be an advocate responsive to community needs and direction. It鈥檚 a lesson I鈥檒l take with me wherever I go in life

Katrina Johnson ’21 of Stratham, N.H.

Major: Biology

Project: Species Interaction in a Changing Ocean

Funding: Hoffman Research Support Grant

Focus: Investigating the little-known feeding preferences of the graceful kelp crab

Location: Friday Harbor Laboratories is a marine biology field station of the College of the Environment, University of Washington, located on San Juan Island.

Student says: Being from the East Coast, I had never studied West Coast ocean ecosystems in person. To snorkel and see seals playing in kelp forests underwater is extraordinary. Living and working at a world-renowned lab, I have been able to meet and talk with many scientists, but I have also formed lasting relationships with the other student researchers who have made these crazy COVID times a whole lot easier.

There is a special sense of passion towards all things ocean at Friday Harbor Labs. To work alongside scientists with such passion, like my advisor Katie Dobkowski, has invigorated my own sense of excitement about my thesis research and the research I will conduct as a scientist in the future.

HONORED With the 2009 Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, [intlink id=”2855″ type=”post”]Associate Professor of History Joseph Hall[/intlink] (right).

Hall, who came to 乐播传媒 in 2002, teaches Native American history, the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, and U.S. history from an environmental perspective, among other topics. Students who nominated him for the Kroepsch praised Hall’s knowledge of and enthusiasm for his material, a highly engaging classroom style, and high but fair expectations of his students. “One of his favorite questions is 鈥楽o what?'” says Alexander Scott ’09. “This simple question commands the student to place comments into a broader historical context.”

WON An award funding a trip to prominent German neuroscience research facilities, by biology major Greg Sousa ’08 of Augusta, Maine, for research, presented at the Society for Neuroscience conference, into the regulation of feeding in snails; and nearly $1,000 from the scientific research society Sigma Xi to support a genetics study involving test subjects in Lewiston-Auburn by neuroscience major Leah Carr ’10 of Summit, N.J.

DEPARTED Mark Bessire, director of the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art, for the equivalent position at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, effective March 2. Bessire, who came to 乐播传媒 in 2003, worked to better harmonize museum programming and the College curriculum, oversaw interdisciplinary initiatives supported by the Synergy Fund, and mounted such high-profile exhibitions as “Documenting China.” Bessire’s colleagues at the PMA include Chief Curator Tom Denenberg ’90.

DAMAGED The 乐播传媒 College Chapel, by a steam leak in early January. The steam affected the altar, anterooms, and restrooms at the north end of the Chapel, peeling paint and warping floors and woodwork. Repairs, likely to take all spring, will restore the structure to its pre-Jan. 5 state but not involve any redesign or renovation, Pam Wichroski, director of capital planning and construction, told the campus in an e-mail.

PURSUED During February and March, a campus Cost-Saving Initiative (dubbed “CSI-乐播传媒”) in which employees are asked for money-saving ideas to help close a projected $2 million revenue shortfall in the 2009鈥�10 budget (see page 3). “While this is not going to provide enough savings to secure our financial future,” said Sowell Professor of Economics Jim Hughes, chair of the faculty-staff Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, “it does promote engagement and awareness of the issue at all levels of the College.”

REJECTED The Academic Bill of Rights, by the 乐播传媒 College Student Government, in January. The ABR is a set of principles advocating, among other things, the teaching of all perspectives on a religious or political issue that may arise in a course, rather than letting faculty decide which perspectives to present. Promulgated by the energetic conservative activist David Horowitz, the principles have been the object of a tug of war in the BCSG since 2005.

DECEASED Joseph Derbyshire, College librarian emeritus, on Jan. 4. A music lover and inveterate list maker who once said that “rock is in my blood and classical in my soul,” he devised the classification system for sound recordings in Ladd Library. His obituary will appear in the Summer issue.

Raynaldo Janelle, a chef in Dining Services from 1946 to 1988, on Oct. 27, at age 86; Janice Lee, the College’s audio librarian from 1982 to 2004, on Oct. 31, at 70; Joseph Poulin, a member of the Dining Services staff from 1989 to 2001, on Nov. 20, at 83.

Thomas Wenzel, Charles A. Dana Professor of Chemistry at 乐播传媒, has received a grant worth nearly $100,000 to support a curriculum development project in analytical chemistry.

The awarded Wenzel a $99,278 “Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement” grant for a project titled Collaborative Research: Development of Contextual E-Learning Modules for Analytical Chemistry.

Working with professor of the University of California, Riverside, Wenzel is developing an entire online undergraduate curriculum in analytical chemistry that will be disseminated via the .

The Analytical Sciences Digital Library is a NSF-funded digital resource that collects and publishes discovery materials pertinent to curricular innovations and technical resources in the analytical sciences. Wenzel has been involved with the ASDL since its inception and is a member of its advisory board. Larive is a managing director of the library.

The key to the curriculum “is the use of collaborative learning in place of a lecture mode of instruction,” Wenzel says, “and problem-based or project-based labs in place of the traditional ‘cookbook labs’ that tend to characterize chemistry courses.”

The collaborative learning model means that topics will be developed through small-group activities in class, with instructors serving as facilitators to help students work through the problems.

The lab component will eschew a traditional approach that favors prescribed, step-by-step confirmation of predetermined outcomes. Instead, the lab work will comprise real chemical analysis problems for which students will have to design and implement their own measurement techniques and methods.

Wenzel, a 1999 recipient of the American Chemical Society’s National Analytical Chemistry Education Award, already employs collaborative learning and project-based labs in his courses.

The NSF grant is a so-called Phase 1 award. If the foundation deems the development and progress of this project successful, Wenzel, Larive and their collaborators may request a Phase 2 award for an additional $500,000 in two years.

That funding will enable them to continue developing topical units included within an analytical chemistry curriculum. “What I will do is expand my materials to fulfill the breadth of topics taught across the spectrum of analytical chemistry courses,” Wenzel explains. He’ll also write instructor manuals for the material.

“The expansion of topics and the manuals will facilitate the adoption of these methods and materials by other instructors throughout the country and the world.”

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Tilney, an interdisciplinary major in geology and biology, boarded the 399-foot icebreaker in Nome, Alaska, with William Ambrose, assistant professor of biology at 乐播传媒, and classmate Melissa Grable of Wilmette, Ill. Tilney was among a party of five scientists whose objective was to determine if early- season plant material attached to the ice reaches the sea floor and serves as food for sea floor-based organisms. Tilney observed ice algae on the sea floor with footage provided by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and collected samples from the Arctic Ocean floor using the box coring technique. This was the first time an ROV was deployed from a U.S. Coast Guard ship in western Arctic waters. Tilney’s research will be the basis for his senior thesis, which he is preparing through the summer in Carnegie Science Hall laboratories at 乐播传媒.

Tilney’s travel expenses and summer research stipend have been funded in part by a $14,500 grant awarded to Ambrose by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the enhancement of 乐播传媒’s science programs.

A dean’s list student and president of the 乐播传媒 College Outing Club, Tilney graduated from the Groton School in Groton, Mass. He is the son of Philip and Ellen Tilney of Kennebunkport.