Grad News Forum

Not every college student wants to spend 10 weeks in rural Costa Rica, working long hours in the field while battling muggy weather and vicious mosquitoes. But count Ellen Irwin ’14 as one who does.

“It was a lot of fun,” she says. “It was an amazing experience.”

Irwin spent a term last year working with Ramsa Chaves-Ulloa, a PhD student in the ecology and evolutionary biology program, collecting insects from 12 streams in rugged northwest Costa Rica. It was just one of the ways the two women, who have spent countless hours together in the classroom, field, and laboratory, have built a mutually beneficial academic relationship as mentor and mentee.

During their stay in Costa Rica, Chaves-Ulloa and Irwin collected hundreds of insects from different streams. Part of Chaves-Ulloa’s research is focused on Costa Rica, where she looks at whether human land use affects the number and type of insects in Costa Rican streams, and which insects, and how many of them, will emerge from the stream and perhaps be eaten by riparian predators such as spiders, bats, and lizards.

For the full article, go to the Dartmouth Now.

Neurology professor Dr. Rand Swenson shows participants a human brain specimen at one of the activity stations.

Last weekend, over twenty high school students from around the area convened in the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center for the first Upper Valley Brain Bee. Hosted by the Neuroscience Center at Dartmouth  and the Society for Neuroscience New Hampshire Chapter, this event would not have been possible without the hard work of Marie Onakomaiya and Alex Bender, the two graduate students responsible for envisioning and organizing this outreach project. Dr. Michelle Sama, coordinator of the Neuroscience Center at Dartmouth, also played a key role in orchestrating the event.

The competition was advertised to high school students throughout the entire Upper Valley, and ultimately students from six different schools competed. Weeks prior to the competition, Onakomaiya and Bender visited these schools to host “Brain Boot Camps” in which students were taught basic neuroscience and neuroanatomy and provided with study materials. After many weeks of preparation, the brainy students were ready to show off their neuroscience knowledge.

In round one of the competition, participants completed a short quiz, identified brain structures on real human brains, and diagnosed “patients” played by volunteers from the Dartmouth neuroscience community. Afterwards, the students had a break for lunch and visited a variety of activity stations run by professors from the medical school. Dr. Rand Swenson showed students brain specimens, Dr. Jeff Cohen and Dr. Alissa Thomas taught participants how to conduct a neurological exam on a patient, and Dr. Olga Emery provided demonstrations illustrating various brain functions. Meanwhile, Dr. Michelle Sama ran a “Color Your Brain” station for younger attendees. These activities concluded with a talk about Parkinson’s disease from neurology professor, Dr. Stephen Lee.

Having patiently waited long enough, the top five scorers from the first round were announced and brought up to the front of the room to compete in round two. This culminating phase was structured similar to a spelling bee: competitors answered questions from three different categories and were eliminated after responding to two consecutive questions incorrectly. Questions were asked by the judges of the event, four members of the Dartmouth neuroscience community (Dr. Allan Gulledge, Dr. Barbara Jobst, Dr. Jeremy Barry, and myself).

Dr. Hermes Yeh, the MC for the event, congratulates first place winner Jane Plomp, a 9th grader from Lebanon High School.

Jane Plomp, a 9^th grader from Lebanon High School, took first place and will have the opportunity to compete in the National Brain Bee held in Washington, DC, next March. Molly Cornell, an 11^th grader from Hanover High School, won second place, and Morgan Keller, a 12^th grader from Lebanon High School, won third place.

Onakomaiya and Bender certainly accomplished their initial goal, which was “to introduce neuroscience to local high school students and provide a way for them to have fun learning about the brain,” says Bender. Based on everyone’s fantastic performance throughout the competition, it is evident that participants learned a great deal of information. Onakomaiya and Bender received a lot of positive feedback and hope that the Upper Valley Brain Bee will become a yearly tradition here at Dartmouth. Onakomaiya notes that “this year’s participants have already expressed interest in doing it again next year and will be recruiting their friends to join them.”

by Max Mehlman

Students across Graduate Studies have a lot of things to look forward to this spring. The newest edition of the MALS Journal is one of them.

During the last week of classes, Katie Moritz and Jamaal Downey, MALS students and the editors of the Journal, will release their second, and final, journal of the academic year.

From left – Mortiz, Downey, Tiernan and Paige.

“It’s lots of long nights – lot’s of coffee cups on the floor of my car,” Moritz said, “but it’s worth it.”

The Journal has taken on a new life of late. For years, it had been published under the title the MALS Quarterly, and was a newsletter-style printing. Last year’s editor, Erin O’Flaherty, shrunk the publication’s size and demanded new rigor for its submissions. O’Flaherty helped give the Journal (still called the Quarterly at the time) a new sense of prestige.

“We want to be sure Erin gets a ton of credit,” Downey said. “She revolutionized the publication. We started from such a great place, and just tried to realize the final pieces of that vision.”

So Moritz and Downey made some final changes to complete the revitalization of the publication. First, they decided that the Journal should be issued twice a year, instead of once a quarter, to improve competition for space in its pages. And, with the help of MALS Director Wole O., they secured an ISSN number from the Library of Congress, taking the publication to a whole new level.

The result?

“We had over one hundred submissions this time around,” Moritz said. “We turned away so many amazing pieces. But we’re left with a great publication.”

That publication will feature eight poems, two short stories, four nonfiction pieces, one oral history piece, and four photographs, drawn from current MALS students and alumni of the program. The work is drawn from all of the tracks the MALS program offers – the general track and the Cultural Studies, Globalization Studies, and Creative Writing tracks (Moritz and Downey are on the general track).

“The program sometimes feels so abstract at times, because students are all over the place, and everyone has different interests,” Moritz said. “But there is a strain of commonality in all these pieces. I realized that everyone here is concerned with making something better. There’s a strong flavor of social justice in our community. It’s idealistic, but it’s wonderful.”

Downey agreed. “From the submissions we read, one thing is clear. MALS is a group of strong, independent thinkers. My role as editor helped me to see these common threads.”

“And,” he added, “my writing and editing skills improved dramatically.”

These are all things that the next editors – Henry Paige (MALS – General Track) and Erin Tiernan (MALS – Cultural Studies) – have to look forward to.

“We are extremely excited for the opportunity to build upon the great work continued by Katie and Jamaal,” Tiernan said. “As next year’s editors, we hope to increase the visibility of both the MALS Program and the Journal.”

For MALS students, the Journal will find its way into their office mailboxes. For anyone else interested in a copy, Moritz and Downey encourage stopping by the MALS office on the first floor of Wentworth to pick one up.

Ryan McManus ’15 (second from left), Ed von Kuhn ’14 (third from left), Orion House residential coordinator Justin Fromer (center, blue shirt), Rob Lauzen ’15, fourth from right, and William Guinee ’15 (right) visit with Orion House residents.

Ron Bucca and Desmond Webster, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies students, cited in Dartmouth Now for work with Orion House.

When Rob Lauzen ’15 volunteered to visit the Orion House, a residential treatment facility serving males ages 11 to 19, he had no idea how he could connect with the residents. But that changed quickly.

“After our first visit, it wasn’t like we were doing community service,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun. We are just going, hanging out with some great kids, and trying to do a little bit of good.”

It seems to be working.

Nearly every week since October, a group of Dartmouth football players and graduate student military veterans have made the 40-minute drive south to Orion House in Newport, N.H. Orion House takes in underprivileged adolescent males who suffer from substance abuse, have family problems, and/or are dealing with emotional and behavioral issues.

It all began when Ron Bucca, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) student, heard about the not-for-profit from a friend. Shortly thereafter, Bucca, a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, and other members of the Dartmouth Graduate Veterans Association traveled to the residential facility.

But after a few trips, Bucca thought Orion House residents might connect better with Dartmouth student-athletes: There would be less of an age gap between the residents, and the boys might have more in common with athletes, since nearly all the Orion House residents play sports. So Bucca approached classmate and football player Edward von Kuhn ’14 about volunteering at Orion House. Once football season ended, Von Kuhn and a crew of teammates joined the veterans on a trip to Orion House.

“When the football guys started coming,” Bucca says, “that’s when this really took off.”

For the full article go to the Dartmouth Now.

Photo by Eli Burakian

Everywhere researchers go, be it a conference, a job interview, or simply meeting a colleague in the hallway, people ask the obvious question: “So tell me about your work?” It goes without saying that the ability of researchers to describe their research in lay language efficiently is one of the most important skills to be acquired, regardless of the field of research.

On Monday, April 29, assistant dean of Graduate Student Affairs, Kerry Landers, initiated a speed researching event aimed at developing students’ communication skills. In this event, students were expected to explain their research to their smart, but not expert, colleagues in only two minutes!

“We have received feedback from faculty who attended the recent Graduate Poster Session and were impressed with many of our graduate students’ ability to explain their research to non-experts,” notes Landers. “The goal of this speed researching event was to provide another opportunity for graduate students to continue to improve this essential skill.”

At the event, a total of 10 students explained their research to each other in pairs over lunch, followed by a two-minute constructive comments session. Students came from programs in biology, chemistry, engineering, genetics, MALS, and physics and astronomy. A wide range of research topics were discussed, including black holes, prion diseases, and the causes of the Arab Spring. Each student had the opportunity to present his or her research five times, providing plenty of practice.

“This event was great! I now know what other students in genetics, engineering, and chemistry do,” commented Daniel Durcan, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies student, who also serves as the graduate student activities coordinator. Durcan continued, “The clarity for the presentations was very impressive. I thought it was a great opportunity to practice explaining my research to students from other disciplines.”

The event was somewhat similar to the Three-Minute Research Presentation sessions held by the Graduate Studies Office in the past. However, there is a subtle difference in emphasis between the two events. The Three-Minute Research Presentation sessions involve a single three-minute talk and aim to improve public speaking skills. On the other hand, “speed researching” aims to help students present their research swiftly to several people—a skill they will need at job fairs or conferences. Such a skill is crucial in a competitive academic environment.

Speed researching is, indeed, very helpful and from the looks of it, a very successful idea. Please keep your eyes open for the second speed researching event!

by Gilbert Rahme

The Graduate Forum would like to congratulate Sarah Henderson, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, on her new position as a postdoctoral researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Manhattan, New York. Henderson plans to graduate this summer and begin working in New York City this June. She is currently finishing up her dissertation on the influence of ambivalence on executive functioning and cigarette smoker’s emotional and neural responses to smoking cues.

Henderson grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut, and completed her undergraduate studies at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, majoring in psychology and political science. After graduating, she worked as a paralegal at a law firm, but then quickly realized that she did not want to pursue a law career.

Next, Henderson worked as a research assistant at the Children’s National Medical Center, conducting quality of life research with children suffering from epilepsy, Tourette’s Syndrome, neurofibromatosis, and autism. To this day she remains involved with Brainy Camps, a week-long summer camp for children with chronic health conditions. In addition, she volunteers weekly at David’s House, a volunteer-run home-away-from-home dedicated to supporting the families of children being treated at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

After working at the Children’s National Medical Center, Henderson worked for a contract research agency where she conducted pharmaceutical research for the National Institutes of Health. Following this, Henderson decided to come to Dartmouth to pursue her PhD in cognitive neuroscience in order to work with some of the top people in the field.

Henderson works with Professor Catherine Norris and employs fMRI and eye tracking as a means for studying ambivalence (i.e., emotional conflict), self-regulation, and addiction. Her dissertation examines how ambivalence, or the state of having contradictory feelings toward something, affects cognitive processing and subsequently, the regulation of cigarette smoking. For example, she found that when viewing images of smoking, participants with a desire to quit smoking showed less activity in reward regions of the brain and more activity in regions associated with internally directed attention.

In her time at Dartmouth, Henderson has presented posters at academic conferences, including the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, the Society for Social Neuroscience, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Henderson was also the recipient of the 2011 Basic Psychological Science Research Grant from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students.

In her new postdoctoral fellowship position at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Henderson will research pediatric mood and anxiety disorders, using a variety of neuroimaging and neurobiological techniques. Along with her advisor, Vilma Gabbay, she will investigate new ways to improve the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of many of these disorders.

We wish Henderson all the best in her new position!

by Andrea Worsham

In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that over one-third of US adults are obese, and that the medical costs associated with obesity in 2008 were estimated at $14.7 billion, with rates and costs expected to increase. The molecular and epidemiological cause of this emerging epidemic in the US and world populations was the basis of the 6^th Annual Integrative Biology Symposium, held on April 24^th. This year’s topic was “Obesity and Human Health.”

The Integrative Biology Symposium was started in 2008, with the goal to “host an interdisciplinary symposium that would help to bring the broader Dartmouth community interested in biomedical research together,” according to Professor Jason Moore. “Another important goal was to provide a forum for students to showcase their work and to interact with national and international leaders.” Past symposia topics have included “Human Microbiome in Health and Disease” (2012), “RNA and Disease: Beyond the Central Dogma” (2011), “Clinical and Translational Research” (2010), “Emerging Technology” (2009), and more generally, the inaugural event covered biostatistics, genomics, bioinformatics, and proteomics (2008).

Of the 200 registrants for this year’s symposium, 98 were students, 14 of whom presented posters at an evening poster session on April 23^rd. Winners of the poster session were graduate students Jeremy Huckins (Psychological and Brain Sciences), Corina Lesseur (Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine), and Jie Tan (Molecular and Cellular Biology, first year), as well as undergraduate students, Rachael Bornstein (Dartmouth Class of 2014) and Brad Stubenhaus (from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire).

Speakers at the symposium consisted of three from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth: Diane Gilbert-Diamond, PhD, Richard Rothstein, MD, and Benjamin Moyer, PhD, as well as six outside speakers: Pamela Goodwin, MD (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada), Ruth Loos, PhD (Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York), Cecilia Lindgren, PhD (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Oxford University, United Kingdom), David Allison, PhD (University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama), Lee Kaplan, MD, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts), and the keynote speaker, Joel Hirschhorn, MD, PhD (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts).

These nine speakers discussed topics encompassing the genetics of obesity, Western diets as agents of obesity, innovative interventions for weight and diabetes management, the application of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify potential biomarkers for elevated obesity risk, and many others.

The Integrative Biology Symposium is sponsored by a number of Dartmouth-affiliated groups and programs, including the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, the Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (iQBS), the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program (SRP), the Dartmouth Lung Biology Center, the Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Center at Dartmouth, and the New Hampshire Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE). In order to choose the symposium themes, topics are discussed and voted on by the Integrative Biology Committee, which meets monthly to plan and organize the yearly symposium. The theme for 2014 will be “Global Health.” According to Professor Moore, the group tries to pick themes which will broadly appeal to researchers across campus.

It appears that so far, the committee has been successful. Biochemistry graduate student Kelli Hvorecny stated, “I think the Integrative Biology Symposium is a great forum bringing the disparate research disciplines at Dartmouth together for discussion on a topic that touches all of their research. The exposure to techniques and fields of study that I do not encounter on a daily basis triggers outside-of-the-box ideas for my own research, often to my benefit.” When asked to provide a potential topic for a future symposium, Hvorecny suggests, “From molecules to medicine: Integrating the sciences spanning biochemistry to patient care.”

by Jeanine Amacher

photos by Carolee Crossmon

John Gartner: Using Lidar to Study Dam Removal and River Dynamics

Check out this video of recent poster session winner, John Gartner.

In the video, Gartner explains how researchers shoot lasers from a plane to map and understand the effects of dam removal on river current patterns.

Graduates Mentoring Undergraduates: Ellen and Ramsa

Graduate student Ramsa Chaves Ulloa and undergraduate Ellen Irwin discuss lab work, fieldwork, mosquitos, and, most importantly, friendship, mentoring, and mutual development.

Congratulations to graduate student John Gartner, in the Department of Earth Sciences, who was one of four winners of the Graduate Poster Session held recently in Alumni Hall! (Below is a summary of Gartner’s poster.)

Poster Title: Irene Landslides and Sedimentation in Vermont Rivers:  Importance of Gradients in Transport Capacity

How do rivers transport sediment from the mountains to the sea? This question has implications for every species that lives in and near rivers, including humans. Hurricane Irene, as devastating as it was to so many people, provided an unprecedented opportunity to observe how rivers cut into and also bury the local landscape with sediment.

For decades, geomorphologists have measured stream power at spot locations along rivers to determine if the capacity at a point is high enough to transport sediment. Yet the stream power of rivers is seldom constant from the headwaters downstream, and this change should affect sediment transport dynamics. Specifically, if the stream power is decreasing downstream, going from high to low power along a given segment, then the river cannot carry the sediment load delivered from upstream and must deposit material. In contrast, if stream power increases moving downstream, then the river can entrain all sediment delivered from upstream and more, possibly exporting material from the riverbanks, undercutting the adjacent hillslopes, and inducing landslides. I hypothesized that river segments with decreasing stream power should exhibit widespread floodplain deposition and few landslides, and, conversely, segments with increasing stream power should exhibit abundant landslides and minimal floodplain deposition.

To test these ideas, landslides and floodplain deposits were mapped based on field surveys and aerial photos in two Vermont watersheds after Irene. Freely available digital elevation data were used to compute stream power and, more importantly, gradients in stream power on the two rivers. The hypotheses were supported by the preponderance of floodplain deposits occurring in reaches with decreasing stream power and an abundance of landslides in reaches with increasing stream power.

This novel approach to characterizing sediment transport dynamics shows that gradients in stream power can affect both the downstream and lateral mobility of sediment. In particular, decreasing downstream sediment transport capacity favors the movement of material from the river onto the adjacent landscape. However, reaches of increasing downstream capacity have an opposite dynamic, with material moving from adjacent areas into river channels. One critical broader implication is that maps of stream power gradients can be an important tool for protection and management of human infrastructure and riparian ecosystems.

poster summary by John Gartner