Undergraduates interested in working on research projects can apply to a variety of Dartmouth programs for funding. Margaret Funnell, assistant dean for undergraduate research, explains that in-depth examination of a particular topic helps students develop skills in critical thinking, information gathering and processing, and effective communication. The programs also provide forums for faculty to teach and mentor undergraduates on a one-on-one basis outside the classroom.
"Students are ready for different levels of independence at different points in their academic and intellectual development," says Funnell.
Here are just a few of those projects:
Finding the Right Words
Don Daniels '06
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Don Daniels '06 is learning a language that no one has heard or spoken in 2,000 years. In fact, his work as a historical linguist is less like learning a language and more like rebuilding one. He's painstakingly reconstructing the ancient language spoken in what is now Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, from seven modern languages that evolved from a single proto-language over two millennia. Daniels received a Richter Memorial Fund grant from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which he used for travel to the Madang Province.
With guidance from Associate Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science Lindsay Whaley and help from Professor Andrew Pawley at the Australian National University, Daniels and his interpreter visited villages and towns in Madang Province where the seven languages of what is known as the South Adelbert branch of languages are spoken. By documenting and recording hundreds of words, Daniels plans to reconstruct the ancient language that was the basis for all seven modern languages. "It's like trying to rebuild Papua New Guinea's Latin," he explains.
Daniels has amassed 300 to 400 words from six of the languages and received a 3,000-word glossary of the seventh from a local missionary. Using phonology, a subfield of linguistics, he will compare the sounds of the related languages, looking for clues about how they changed incrementally and what sounds were retained from generation to generation. He plans to show how the languages branched off over time and construct a basic vocabulary and sound system for their linguistic ancestor.
Land Use in New England
Victoria Solbert '07
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To Victoria Solbert's California eye, most of New England looks rural, even though it's been settled for centuries.
"It's been interesting looking at aerial photos of the Upper Valley area from the 1930s and seeing how much the landscape has changed," she says. "While I knew forest cover had increased dramatically since intensive agricultural use in the mid-1800s declined, it was still surprising to see the visual evidence."
Solbert, an environmental studies major and a studio art minor, is working with Doug Bolger, associate professor of environmental studies, to examine historic land use in Hartford, Vt. Her study is also being funded by the Richter Memorial Fund and through it, she's learned how much northern New England has changed over time.
She has generated maps with Geographical Information Systems software (GIS) that compare land use in 1939 to 2003. She hopes to add data from the 1850s, and wants to use biological surveys to study ecological impacts.
She feels that people need to learn about historic land use to better understand the impact that humans have over time.
"I hope my research will help reveal how forest structure has changed due to agricultural use," she says. "I want this information to be used to better manage local forest resources."
The Poetry of War
Jeffrey Coleman '08
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Jeffrey Coleman '08 received a John L. Murphy Family Fund grant from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to study the poetry written during the Chilean Dirty War, a project he says might develop into a senior thesis.
"I first got interested in Chilean politics after reading some works of Isabel Allende," says Coleman, who is pursuing a double major in Spanish and government with a minor in Chinese. "The political undertones in many of her stories struck me and pushed me to learn more."
Working with Raul Bueno-Chavez, professor of Spanish, Coleman discovered that the meaning behind poetry deepens with each reading. He says he always finds a new way to look at the world inside the words, and that it provides a fascinating vantage point from which to examine the nature of the culture and society of that time.
"I want people to take away two things from my project," says Coleman. "One, atrocities are occurring around the world each day but Americans often are not aware or concerned until it is too late. Our generation must do more to be aware. Two, poetry is a means to express that which at times cannot be expressed directly."
Tiny Measurements
Emily Koepsell '09
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Emily Koepsell '09 was drawn to the micrometeorite internship because it involved learning how to use a scanning electron microscope, a piece of equipment that uses electrons to create detailed three-dimensional images of very tiny items.
With the support of Dartmouth's Women in Science Project, Koepsell worked with Charles Daghlian, director of the College's Electron Microscope Facility, and Susan Taylor, adjunct professor of earth sciences and a research physical scientist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
Daghlian helps Taylor in her study of micrometeorites collected from the drinking water at the South Pole, and Koepsell's internship includes helping analyze these samples. The South Pole micrometeorite data will be compared to data from comets collected by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which recently returned to Earth after a seven-year voyage. This line of research is part of the effort to learn more about comets and other interstellar particles to better understand how the universe was made.
Koepsell has learned to use the scanning electron microscope to take photos of micrometeorites, which measure only about 20 to 50 microns across, less than the thickness of a piece of paper. She performed elemental analyses on them and classified them based on their composition and structure.
By GENEVIEVE HAAS and SUSAN KNAPP
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