Grad News Forum

Michael Hopkins, winner of the 2009 Graduate Community award, and his advisor, David Bucci

Exercise clears the mind. It gets the blood pumping and more oxygen is delivered to the brain. This is familiar territory, but Dartmouth’s David Bucci thinks there is much more going on.

“In the last several years there have been data suggesting that neurobiological changes are happening—[there are] very brain-specific mechanisms at work here,” says Bucci, an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

From his studies, Bucci and his collaborators have revealed important new findings:

• The effects of exercise are different on memory as well as on the brain, depending on whether the exerciser is an adolescent or an adult.
• A gene has been identified which seems to mediate the degree to which exercise has a beneficial effect. This has implications for the potential use of exercise as an intervention for mental illness.

For more about the research being conducted by both graduate and undergraduate students in Bucci’s lab, visit the Dartmouth Now.

When Rich Lopez first arrived at Dartmouth to begin his graduate studies this past fall, he quickly immersed himself in the rich academic life of his home department,  Psychological and Brain Sciences. He attended various talks, conferences, and academic extracurricular activities associated with his research interests. While Lopez fully enjoyed these great opportunities, he sought a venue for graduate students to share their research with the broader public and add to the interdepartmental collaboration at Dartmouth.  After he spoke with several fellow PBS graduate students and found out they shared the same concern, the initial idea for GradTalks was born.

“I was surprised to learn that there weren’t forums to talk about research outside of one’s own department,” says Lopez.  Noting the tendency for academics to become immersed in the daily grind of lab research, Lopez saw firsthand how easy it was for graduate students to forget about the real-world implications of what they study–as well as how their research might benefit from cross-sectional perspectives and reflection.

“I consider myself very passionate–and yes, nerdy–about what I do, as do most of my fellow graduate students,” says Lopez.  “But I often wonder–what is the ‘take home’ message?  How can my research make a greater impact on society?”

For Lopez, these questions ultimately drove him to spearhead the creation of GradTalks, an interdisciplinary graduate conference occurring next Thursday, May 17th.  Devised as a platform to showcase the exciting lines of research conducted by Dartmouth graduate students, GradTalks will feature students from a variety of academic departments.  Each graduate student presenter will receive 10-15 minutes to deliver a dynamic presentation on an academic topic of their choosing, followed by a five minute Q & A period.  There will also be a reception following the talks to further facilitate interaction between graduate students and audience members.

In many ways, GradTalks is a spin-off from Nerd Nite, a relatively new social event that has become increasingly popular with graduate students and that Lopez is also involved with.  Nerd Nite features a similar format of graduate students informally presenting their research to an audience consisting mostly of people outside their home departments. Students at Nerd Nite are also able to practice their presentation skills and receive helpful feedback from graduate students from other academic disciplines.

“The ability to tailor a talk to a wider audience is a very important skill for a scientist,” explains Lopez, noting that this ability to communicate high-level scientific concepts to general audiences can have a huge impact in terms of increasing public awareness of certain scientific issues.  “It’s a win-win, both from the graduate student’s perspective and for the people in attendance.”

The theme of this year’s conference is “‘The Self: from Cells to Stars,” and will feature topics ranging from the importance of bacteria that make up the human microbiome, to the neuroscience behind what gives rise to consciousness and a sense of self. According to Lopez, the theme of the event is purposely vague in order to inspire far-reaching thought and to include presentations from a variety of perspectives. While the promotional tagline of GradTalks, “…and you thought professors did all the research!” pokes fun at the undergraduate-dominated Dartmouth establishment, according to Lopez the event isn’t just about bringing attention to graduate students, but also about showing the wider Upper Valley community what sort of research is being done at Dartmouth.

“It’s Dartmouth College, but Dartmouth is a world-class university with cutting-edge research occurring everyday—largely by graduate students,” says Lopez.  “We’re trying to bring more awareness to graduate research, but also want to demystify who graduate students are and what they do.”

1st Annual Dartmouth College GradTalks

Thursday, May 17th, 7pm

B03 Moore Hall

www.dartgradtalks.org

by Erin O’Flaherty

Originally from Kennebunkport, Maine, Nicholas Tito is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Chemistry. Nick’s graduate research examines the thermodynamics of polymers and focuses on when these materials are in their “glass” form. Through his involvement with the Gordon Research Seminar in Polymer Physics—a student-run conference that is held every two years—and the German JCF-Frühjahrssymposium, Nick has worked to bring graduate students together to learn about one another’s research.

“Currently, I’m serving as the Associate Chair for this year’s Polymer Physics Gordon Research Seminar, which is being held at Mount Holyoke College. The Gordon Seminars are entirely student run, and feature student talks and poster sessions along with a keynote speaker—usually a professor—whose research aligns with the conference topic,” explains Nick. “The Chair is a graduate student at Penn State, and I’ve communicated regularly with her while planning this year’s Gordon Seminar.”

In March, Nick joined a group of chemistry students from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to attend the Frühjahrssymposium, organized by Germany’s JungChemikerForum at the University of Rostock in Rostock, Germany. Like the Gordon Seminar, the Frühjahrssymposium is a student-run conference featuring student talks and posters in chemistry.

“I went to Rostock this year not only to learn about the current research being conducted in Europe, but also because I’m interested in bridging the international gap in the field of Chemistry,” says Nick. “This conference is part of a ‘chemistry exchange’ program that the Northeast Section Younger Chemists Committee (NSYCC) has been involved with for the past ten years. American students like those in our group first travel to Germany for the Frühjahrssymposium, and then students from Germany travel to the United States to attend in an American Chemical Society (ACS) Conference. I think it is an excellent way to share science, form new collaborations, and experience other cultures. I’m really looking forward to showing the German exchange students around Boston when they arrive next year.”

At the upcoming Gordon Conference in Polymer Physics, Nick is presenting his research on the glass transition of polymers. A member of Professor Jane Lipson’s group, Nick creates theoretical models that examine both the glass and liquid transition in these materials. Nick’s research focuses primarily on how molecules act right before the glass transition, and examines how the presence of free volume—“empty space”—affects the transition of these substances.

“It’s easy to understand the glass transition by imagining that you’re in a room filled with people—the annual Graduate Poster Session, for example. Suppose you wish to see a poster on the other side of the Top of the HOP. The people around you make it difficult to move, and it takes a while to make your way across the room,” explains Nick. “There’s going to be some pushing and prodding involved, and this requires energy. But suppose you haven’t slept much over the past few days and don’t have the energy to move through the crowd. When molecules are cooled very quickly, this is exactly what happens: when energy is taken from them, they loose their mobility and are left stuck between other molecules in a fluid. It is this transition from ‘mobile’ to ‘immobile’ that my research examines.”

Used to create synthetic materials including chemical sensors, Styrofoam, and Plexiglas, the polymers that Nick examines are long, string-like molecules that, when cooled, form strong glasses. A number of the polymers researched by the Lipson Group are used to make components for devices that operate in demanding conditions—space ships, for example—so it is important that both the structural properties and transition temperatures of these materials are researched.

“When you think about this geometrically, it makes a lot of sense. The structure of a glass made of chain-like molecules which resemble pearl necklaces, tangled together like spaghetti, will be stronger than a glass made of singular molecules which resemble marbles,” explains Nick. “From a practical standpoint, it is important for scientists to understand the properties of these materials so that when a polymer—like polycarbonate, for instance—is used to build bullet-proof walls, the material remains stable.”

In addition to conducting doctoral research at Dartmouth, Nick also plays the piano, serves as a Departmental Representative on the Graduate Student Council (GSC), and is trying to get a book published that he has been drafting for the past eight years.

“While I’ve studied chemistry throughout my academic career, I’ve always been a big reader. In high school, I started writing a ‘whodunit’ mystery novel, titled View From A Pendulum, which is heavily influenced by the writings of Agatha Christie. The plot focuses on a weekend party that takes place in a mansion perched on a cliff. On the first evening, one of the party guests disappears, and the remainder of the work explores the aftermath. I guess in a lot of ways the plot is like the board game Clue.”

In the future, Nick intends to do a research post doc in Europe and to pursue a career that allows him to continue his research in chemistry.

And yes, Nick also hopes to one day publish his novel.

by Wesley Whitaker
photo by Wesley Whitaker

On Tuesday, May 1^st at 5:00 PM, elections for the Executive Board for the Graduate Student Council (GSC) were held in Dartmouth Hall. Moderated by the lively Executive Board, each candidate delivered a two-minute speech to the election’s eligible voters, and answered three questions asked by the voters. Votes were cast by secret ballot and were tallied by volunteers from the outgoing Executive Board.

While all graduate students are welcome to run in Executive Board elections, votes are cast by Departmental Representatives who have fulfilled both the attendance and volunteer requirements outlined in the GSC constitution: to vote, Departmental Representatives must attend all council meetings (two absences allowed), and volunteer at two GSC events.

Thank you all Departmental Representatives who voted in the 2012 Executive Board Elections!

Without further ado, the members of the 2012-13 Executive Board of the Graduate Student Council are:

President: Julia Bradley-Cook, former Academic Chair of the GSC and a third year PhD candidate in Evolutionary and Ecological Biology (EEB)

Vice President: Justin Richardson, first year PhD candidate Earth Sciences and former Departmental Representative

Finance Chair: Adrienne Perkins, second year PhD candidate in Biological Sciences and former Departmental Representative

Social Co-Chair: Lisa Jackson, first year master’s student at The Dartmouth Institute (TDI) and former Departmental Representative

Social Co-Chair: Gilbert Rahme, second year PhD candidate in Genetics and former Departmental Representative

Secretary: Yash Patankar, second year PhD candidate in Microbiology and Immunology and former Departmental Representative

Student Life: Ron Bucca, first year student in Dartmouth’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program

Academic Chair: Rich Lopez, first year PhD candidate in Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) and former Departmental Representative

North Park GA: Regina Salvat, a second year PhD candidate at Thayer and member of the 2011-12 Executive Board, is a member of the newly-elected Executive Board

In a recent editorial, the journal Nature stated that, when it comes to climate change research,“Scientists must acknowledge that they are in a street fight.” Is this true? Has public discourse about climate change become so heated that even a respected scientific journal calls it “a street fight”? As graduate students in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program here at Dartmouth, we have been fascinated by the disregard for science in shaping public policy in our federal government. We have often asked ourselves why this is the case, and quickly realized the complexities of this question. A few months ago we decided to formally address this question by organizing a multi-day series centered on the theme of how politics and rhetoric subvert science in shaping public policy, with climate change being the major case study.

The Communication Street Fight: Scientists, the Media, and Politicians in the Climate Change Debate

-Talk: Shawn Otto, April 30, 4 pm, Oopik Auditorium, Life Sciences Center
Free and open to the public

Otto is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and filmmaker who advocates for “smarter politics” in our national discourse on scientific topics. Along with other advocates, he helped organize an online discussion on scientific questions between candidates Obama and McCain in the 2008 election. He has also written a book Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America about how the American discourse on science has changed, and the impact that has on policymaking.

-Talk: Dr. Peter Frumhoff, May 10, 4 pm, Oopik Auditorium, Life Sciences Center
Free and open to the public

Dr. Frumhoff is the Director of Science and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). This spring, the UCS will launch a national project on “Science and Democracy,” placing them in an ideal position to address this topic. Dr. Frumhoff is a global change ecologist, who has served diverse roles in the scientific and policy arenas. He was also a lead author in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment.

-Film Screening: “Bidder 70”, May 14, time and location tbd
Free and open to the public

This event addresses the role of activism in the public discourse on climate change. Acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams will lead a discussion following the film. On December 19, 2008, Tim DeChristopher, as Bidder #70, derailed a federal oil and gas lease auction, by bidding on and winning 22,000 acres of land with no intention to pay or drill, effectively safeguarding thousands of acres of federal land. DeChristopher’s disruption of the auction enabled the Obama Administration and Interior Secretary Salazar to invalidate the auction, citing inadequate analysis of the environmental effects on surrounding areas and failure to assess contributions to global climate change. For his disruption of the auction, DeChristopher was indicted and convicted on two federal charges.

Co-sponsored by Environmental Studies, the Department of Biological Sciences, and the Graduate Student Council

Contacts: Carissa Aoki — Carissa.F.Aoki.GR@dartmouth.edu, Jeff Lombardo –Jeffrey.A.Lombardo.GR@dartmouth.edu, Chelsea Vario -Chelsea.L.Vario.GR@dartmouth.edu

David Bucci, Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Science (PBS), discusses his approach to graduate mentoring at Dartmouth. Selected as one of recipients of the Faculty Mentor Award by Dartmouth’s Graduate Student Council (GSC) in 2009, Professor Bucci’s method of graduate mentorship provides his student’s with a balance between being supportive, and allowing them to develop as independent scientists.

by Kerry Landers

On Tuesday, May 1^st, eight new graduate students will be elected members of the Executive Board of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) for the 2012-13 academic year.

While the departmental representatives of the GSC have already nominated candidates who they feel would be appropriate to serve as year-long representatives of the graduate student body, elections are open to the general graduate student community. If you’d like to nominate a friend, or yourself, for an Executive Board position, please email the GSC by April 25th.

Though any student is eligible to run for an Executive Board position, only Departmental Representatives who have fulfilled attendance and volunteer requirements are eligible to vote in the election. If you’d like to run for a position, please email a two hundred word campaign summary to Graduate.Student.Council@dartmouth.edu — all submission will be published online by April 25th.

Elections will be held in Dartmouth Hall on Tuesday, May 1^st from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm.

The Executive Board positions are:

-President
-Vice President
-Finance Chair
-Activities Co-Chairs (x2)
-Academic Chair
-Student Life Chair
-Secretary

For more information on elections, and for the campaign summaries, please check the GSC website.

Hua Yang is a second year graduate student in Dartmouth’s Psychological and Brain Sciences Department. Originally from Anhui providence in eastern China, Hua received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Beijing University, and has served as director of Dartmouth’s Chinese Student Scholar Association (CSSA) since June. A member of Professor Bradley Duchaine’s lab, Hua’s graduate research examines prosopagnosia—a cognitive disorder which prevents the recognition of faces by affected patients.

Funded by both the Chinese Embassy in New York City and Dartmouth’s Graduate Student Council (GSC), the CSSA hosts events which help students and scholars from China celebrate traditional Chinese festivals, and meet students from different backgrounds. This past year, Hua organized community-building events in New Hampshire with Chinese Student groups from other institutions—including Brown, Harvard, and Northeastern—and worked with thee undergraduate student groups—Dartmouth’s Chinese Culture Society (DCCS), the Chinese Dance Troupe, and China Care Club—to plan activities that could be enjoyed by both undergraduate and graduate students.

“In the past, the CSSA didn’t host that many events with Dartmouth’s undergraduates. However, upon being appointed director of the CSSA, I thought ‘the more the better,’ so I chose to reach out to the undergraduate student groups this year. As a result, more students from mainland China have attended the CSSA’s events, and I think that a larger percentage of Dartmouth’s student body have experienced traditional Chinese culture,” says Hua.

In the future, the CSSA plans to coordinate more events with other Dartmouth student groups, and will continue to increase campus awareness of Chinese culture, issues, and politics. In addition to the holiday celebrations, performance events, and outings hosted by the CSSA, Hua hopes that in the coming years the student group will invite scholars from Dartmouth and other academic institutions to talk about issues like Chinese politics, economics, and culture.

Hua’s graduate research builds directly upon the work she did at Beijing University. As an undergraduate, Hua worked in a vision science lab where she examined how an individual’s visual perception is shaped by their visual experience. Currently, Hua is a member of Prof. Bradley Duchaine’s lab at Dartmouth, and is researching the cognitive disorder Prosopagnosia, or “face blindness” as it is commonly called.

“People who suffer from prosopagnosia are unable to recognize other’s faces. Depending on the severity of the disorder, face blindness has the potential to significantly impact an individual’s social life. My research focuses on both the developmental processes which lead to the disorder and explores if face recognition and impairment is strictly a human trait, or whether other primates also share a common underlying mechanism of this disorder,” explains Hua.

Both the research on face blindness being done in Hua’s lab and the cognitive disorder itself have received a large amount of press over the past years. This March, Professor Duchaine was interviewed by CSB correspondent Lesley Stahl in a two-part series on prosopagnosia which aired on 60 Minutes, and since 2010, articles on face blindness have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Germánico, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times, and radio shows including National Public Radio (NPR).

“The condition of face blindness often follows a traumatic accident where an individual’s brain is damaged, but it can also occur during the cognitive development of an individual. Currently, my lab is testing individuals for prosopagnosia so that we can more fully understand both the causes of face blindness and the condition itself, explains Hua. “While there is currently no cure for face blindness, I hope that the research my lab is doing will one day help people who suffer from the disorder.”

To increase the population sample they screen for prosopagnosia, Hua’s lab has used media outlets including local television and radio stations, and a website—which has been translated into six languages—to raise awareness of the research being done on the disorder at Dartmouth. While airtime on local television and radio channels allow members of the Duchaine lab to reach individuals in Northeast, the website allows subjects around the world to create an account, and test themselves for prosopagnosia at their computers.

“This past year, I translated the website into Chinese,” explains Hua. “While there is no substitute for testing people for face blindness in our lab at Dartmouth, the online test allow us to collect data from various world populations.”

In addition to the studies that she is conducting on prosopagnosia, Hua’s graduate research also examines other cognitive aspects of human vision, including object recognition and visual consciousness. In her studies, Hua utilizes a combination of scientific methods including the computation modeling of physiologic and psychophysical data.

“I guess you could say that I’m committed to breaking down communication barriers,” says Hua. “The programs I coordinate with the CSSA help students and scholars from China to communicate with individuals whose native language is English, and my graduate research on face blindness explores a disorder which prevents patients from communicating with others.”

by Wesley Whitaker

Graduate Appreciation Week, which kicks off this Monday, April 9th, will feature activities to both raise awareness of and celebrate the contributions that graduate students provide to the Dartmouth community.

Dartmouth graduate students serve a variety of roles on campus, from teaching assistants to research collaborators, and contribute to the high level of academic research being done at Dartmouth.  There are over 700 graduate students in 20 masters and doctoral programs in the arts and sciences at Dartmouth, and account for nearly a fifth of the total student population of the College.

Graduate student research will be highlighted at the Graduate Poster Session on Tuesday, April 10^th, at the Top of the Hop.  Designed as a way for students to present their research to the larger Dartmouth community, the session will feature over 45 graduate presenters from a variety of academic disciplines.  Judges include faculty members, graduate alumni, and industry professionals, and prizes will be awarded to the top four presenters.

“This is a great week to celebrate graduate students and the many contributions that they make to the Dartmouth community,” says Kerry Landers, Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs. “The graduate students really seem to enjoy all the activities the Graduate Studies Office and the Graduate Student Council offer to show our appreciation of them.”

Provost Carol Folt will provide the opening remarks at the poster session, and the recipients of the 2012 Graduate Community Award and the Faculty Mentoring Award will also be announced.  For many graduate students, the poster session represents the culmination of their academic life at Dartmouth, and provides an opportunity to explain their research to diverse audiences and to engage with those outside of their immediate field.

“The poster session is wonderful, from both an academic and social stand point,” says Regina Salvat, a second-year PhD student at the Thayer School of Engineering and one of this year’s poster presenters.  “As an engineer, it’s great to meet students from other disciplines, learn about their work, and look for applicable connections to my own research.”

In addition to the poster session, there are also multiple social activities for graduate students this week.  The Graduate Studies Office will be hosting an Adviser/Advisee breakfast in Occom Commons on Thursday, April 12^th, from 8-9:30 am.  An annual event, the breakfast provides an opportunity for graduate professors and advisors to interact with and acknowledge the work of their graduate students in an informal setting.

As the main student-run governing body of the arts and sciences graduate population, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) also takes an active role in Graduate Appreciation Week.  Throughout the week, various GSC-recognized student organizations will sponsor activities such as an Indian Cooking class, a hike around Oak and Balch Hill, and a “Graduate Pub Night” following Tuesday’s poster session. On Wednesday, April 11^th, the GSC will hold a Wine and Cheese Tasting at Tom Dent Cabin on the Connecticut River.  Featuring wine and cheese pairings from around the globe, the event is open to all graduate students and their guests.  In addition to helping plan and implement programming, the GSC also provides every graduate student with a small gift during Grad Appreciation Week.  This year, each graduate student will receive a customized Graduate Studies temporary tattoo, which will be distributed by GSC departmental representatives to their constituents.

Read the full schedule of events for Graduate Appreciation Week here—and don’t forget to wear those temporary tattoos this week with pride!

by Erin E. O’Flaherty

Lola Thompson: Teacher and Number Theorist

A fifth-year PhD candidate in the Math Department, Lola Thompson spends a large portion of her time at Dartmouth training for a career in teaching. In addition to completing the teacher-training program required by her department, Lola has taken a number of professional development courses at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL), and worked as an instructor at the Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG)—a month-long educational program for children between the ages of 13-17 hosted by Dartmouth each summer.

“Dartmouth’s Arts and Science Graduate Programs are known for preparing students for careers in teaching, and that’s one of the main reasons I chose Dartmouth,” says Lola. “The math department’s doctoral curriculum allows students to engage in cutting-edge research while getting hands-on experience in the classroom. I think it’s a wonderful balance.”

Lola got her first taste of teaching as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. During both her junior and senior summers, Lola taught at an intensive, eight-week math camp hosted by Ohio State University. It was at this summer program that Lola came across the mathematical problem that inspired her doctoral research.

“I usually tell people that the program at Ohio State was ‘math boot camp,’ and in retrospect, that’s really what it was. At the camp, things like playing cards, board games, the internet, and television were prohibited. As a result, our students were immersed in math for the duration of the summer,” explains Lola.

“Anyways, I was reviewing a problem set with one of my students when I came across an interesting question. It was in the true or false section of the problem set, and asked ‘For every positive integer n, the cyclotomic polynomial ф_n(x) [the unique irreducible polynomial that divides xⁿ-1 but does not divide x^k-1 for any k < n] has only +1 or -1 as its coefficients. True or False?’ At first, I thought that the answer was ‘true’ but I couldn’t think of a way to prove it, so I tried to find a counterexample. As it turns out, when n = 105, the statement is false; ф₁₀₅(x) has 2 as a coefficient. This made me wonder `How large can the coefficients get?’”

When applying to doctoral programs, Lola learned that Professor Carl Pomerance had published a paper related to the problem she came across at the Ohio State summer program. After enrolling at Dartmouth, Lola selected Prof. Pomerance as her advisor, and began her research in Number Theory.

“Most of my doctoral research builds on the counterexample that I discovered with my students at Ohio State, and examines statistical questions related to both the degrees and coefficients of polynomials,” says Lola. “The most practical application of this type of research is in cryptography, a discipline that uses sophisticated patterns to encode information used by the government, financial institutions, the military, and other organizations who encrypt sensitive data.”

Lola is committed to her polynomial research, and is also passionate about teaching. Dartmouth’s Math Department does an excellent job training its PhD candidates to teach. After the masters degree in mathematics is conferred by the school, the department’s doctoral students are qualified to work as course instructors. However, before they’re allowed to teach undergraduates, these graduate students undergo an intensive teacher-training course. In this training course, graduate students learn the nuts and bolts of teaching: to successfully complete the program, the graduate students are required to design two weeklong courses for high school students on topics from the undergraduate math curriculum. Then, before they’re allowed to work as course instructors, these graduate students teach the two courses they designed over the summer.

“Though I enjoyed the training process, it was a little embarrassing,” explains Lola. “The department videotapes each of the summer courses that you teach, and the videotapes are then reviewed in a workshop. It’s worth it though—after you have your masters degree and have completed the training, you’re as qualified to teach as many adjunct professors, and can teach courses at Dartmouth.”

During her five years at Dartmouth, Lola has taught three different courses: two sections of calculus (Math 8 and Math 1) and one section of discrete probability (Math 20). While Lola was the chief instructor for each of these courses, a “teaching mentor” sat in on three of her classes each term to offer feedback on her teaching progress. In addition, she met with a “course chair,” whose role was to ensure that her choice of textbook, syllabus, and exam questions were consistent with the curriculum set by the department.

“While I enjoyed a large amount of freedom in the classroom, both my teaching mentor and course chair were there to guide me,” says Lola. “They checked in to make sure I was teaching effectively, and covering all of the required material.”

During her graduate career, Lola held three positions on Dartmouth’s Graduate Student Council (GSC): she first acted as the departmental representative for the Math department, was then elected Social Chair, and finally served as the Vice President of the GSC. Currently, Lola runs Dartmouth’s Graduate Vegetarians and Vegans club, is a Graduate Student Leader, and takes Persian and belly dancing classes.

Recently, Lola accepted a one-year postdoctoral position at the University of Georgia—her adviser is a Dartmouth Arts and Sciences Graduate Programs alumnus– and she’s also accepted a tenure track position at Oberlin College starting in the 2013-14 academic year.

by Wesley Whitaker