Category Archives: Departments

Astronomy, Features

Williams Students Shine at Astronomy Symposium

By Marcus Hughes ’18

Don’t underestimate college students, especially if they study astronomy at the top northeastern liberal arts colleges, because they might just be re-defining what we know about the universe.

Last weekend, Williams professors Karen Kwitter and Steven Souza traveled with seven students to Swarthmore College to participate in the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium’s 2014 Undergraduate Symposium on Research in Astronomy. There they learned about the cutting-edge summer research conducted by students from Williams, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Vassar, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Haverford, and Colgate, which together form the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium. Members of the consortium send students to partner schools every summer to conduct paid research, which is later presented at the annual symposium.

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Biology, Features

The Social Life of Plants

By Kar Yern Chin ’18

When Dr. Grace Augustine from James Cameron’s Avatar explains that trees on the planet Pandora are sharing information with each other, using roots like natural fiber-optic cables, she is not far from reality. In 2010, a year after the science fiction movie was released, a review by ecologists Dr. Heil Martin and Richard Karban re-defined the common understanding of plants, disproving the misconception that they are uncommunicative beings. Continue reading The Social Life of Plants →

Chemistry, Environmental Science, Research

Trout Fishing in the Hoosic River: Students Investigate Local River Pollution

By Meagan Goldman ’16

On an early August day this summer, Marissa Shieh and Allie Rowe, two Williams chemistry students, found themselves wading waist-deep through the Hoosic River, scooping trout into a bin. Behind them, a metal boat pushed by scientists from the Massachusetts State Department of Fisheries and Wildlife sent electrical shocks through the water, stunning the fish and facilitating the chase in a process called electrofishing. Continue reading Trout Fishing in the Hoosic River: Students Investigate Local River Pollution →

Chemistry, Q&A

Art, Music, and Bacterial DNA Repair Systems: Q&A with Chemistry Professor Lovett

By Meagan Goldman ’16 and Jacob Kim ’16

Last week, The ScientEphic sat down to chat with Professor Lovett from the Chemistry Department. An active figure in the Williams science scene, Lovett runs the Summer Science Program. He’s famous for knowing every student’s name on the first day of class and for playing his guitar after quizzes. Read on to learn about his past, his research, his participation in a science professor barbershop quartet, and his plans for the future.

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Biology, Research

Plants in Action: Joan Edwards on Rapid Plant Behaviors

 By Laurel Hamers ’14

 

JoanEdwardsWilliams College Professor of Biology Joan Edwards oozes excitement about plants, able to turn a subject that most associate with endless Latin names and obscure botanical terminology into a fascinating examination of the unique characteristics (personalities, almost) of different plant species and the unexpected ways in which they adapt to their environment. Her research focuses on the mechanisms by which plants increase their reproductive success through adaptations for pollination and seed dispersal. In particular, she is interested in what she describes as “ultra-fast plant movement.” Edwards acknowledges the seemingly contradictory nature of the terminology. “You never think of plants as doing anything fast,” she says, “but they do—and they can do things extraordinarily fast.”

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Biology, Features

The iPOP: How One Geneticist is Personalizing DNA Research

By Meagan Goldman ’16

Imagine a world where everyone knows what diseases they are at risk of developing and can take steps to prevent them – or, if prevention fails, live in fear of the future. Although this world may sound a lot like the science fiction movie Gattaca, it is rapidly becoming reality as some geneticists focus their research on personal medicine.

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