Students In ScienceBy Cristy Nguyen October 22, 1993 It was Wendy Jastremski's experiences in her introductory chemistry classes that fostered her interest in organic chemistry. Combining chemistry with her interests in environmental studies, Wendy is well on her way to an exciting interdisciplinary career. Not unlike most first-year students, Wendy Jastremski '95 didn't know what she wanted to major in when she first arrived on campus in the fall of 1991. She did know, however, that she was interested in the environment, especially waste management, and began to look for a curriculum that would complement these interests. Deciding that she would like to attack the environmental problem from a science-related angle, rather than from the administrative side, Wendy joined 300 or so other students in Chemistry 5 during her first winter term. This experience she labels as "miserable, because at first the class was so large and impersonal, the material was difficult and the concepts were too broad. It was very hard for me to get into the material we were studying." But what she also found from this experience was a group of professors who were extremely accessible, helpful and sincerely interested in her progress. Wendy says that she would attend her Chem. 5 professor's office hours at least once a week and always stay for an hour or so, often discussing more than just the class material. She says, "We would talk about anything, he would ask me how my other
In order to incorporate her environmental concerns into her field of study, Wendy also elected to work towards an Environmental Studies certification. She has also found this to be a worthwhile experience, saying she has learned more than science from classes such as Earth as an Ecosystem (ENVS 2), Global Environmental Science (ENVS 30), and Environmental Law (ENVS 60). She also found the Environmental Chemistry class (Chem. 63) to be interesting, and says that she has been able to take courses in both departments which complement each other, as well as her present career goals. During the summer after her first year at Dartmouth, Wendy worked at the Stonington town dump, where she helped them implement their first recycling efforts. She says she worked right at the dump, educating and encouraging citizens about recycling, and remembers it as a great experience. At Dartmouth, Wendy was involved in the Dartmouth Outing Club's Environmental Studies Division (DOC/ESD), which works on campus to promote awareness of environmental issues. Wendy was also an English 2 tutor, an undergraduate advisor, and a member of the Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club. Math Major, the McNair, and Beyond... By Andrea Pianta '95 January 20, 1995 This article was written by Andrea Pianta, a '95 math major, who participated in the McNair Program last summer. Here, Andrea tells us a little about herself, being a math major at Dartmouth, and her experience in the McNair Program at UNH last summer. Anyone who is interested in the program is encouraged to contact Andrea for more information and valuable advice. The last WISP newsletter mentioned the McNair Graduate Opportunity Program as one of its "things to do this summer." Since I was a McNair Fellow last summer, I thought I'd let you know exactly what the program is all about. But first let me introduce myself, so that you know my background. My name is Andrea Pianta, and I am a '95 math major. I have been involved in several committees on safety during my four years here, as well as one of the people who have been
These two activities, and reading about the program in the WISP newsletter during my junior year, are what lead me to apply for the McNair Graduate Opportunity Program. Since I was considering applying to graduate school after finishing at Dartmouth, and because this program is particularly designed as a stepping stone to graduate school, I figured it was perfect for me. Although the program is now offered at about thirty school across the country, I participated in the one at the University of New Hampshire. The McNair Program is unique because if you apply to McNair at one school and they decide not to accept you, but think you are a strong candidate, they will send you to the next closest program to see if they have room for you! Also, it is important to know that the length of the program varies from school to school, although most are ten-week programs. The McNair Program at UNH last summer was made up of fifteen people, whose areas of study encompassed nearly every field. There were six men and nine women, and ten of us lived together in a dorm on UNH's campus. Before arriving at UNH, each of us was paired with a professor, who served as our mentor and advisor over the ten weeks. My mentor was Professor L. David Meeker, and he has the distinction of being the only mathematician in the UNH Glacier Research Group, which is a group of mainly earth scientists and geologists who extract ice cores from Antarctica and analyze their chemical make-up to study climate,
However, the research is only part of this program . All the fellows spent one day per week together, discussing the trials and tribulations of our research, and also being instructed on graduate school applications, because one major goal of this program is to get people into graduate school. We wrote practice personal statements (in fact, I used mine when I applied to graduate school this fall!), studied for and took practice GREs, and learned the basics on the whole application and acceptance process from people on graduate committees. Finally, we were able to send away for and have assistance in selecting graduate schools which we intended on applying to this fall. Finally, at the end of the ten weeks, we had a 2-day colloquium open to the public where each fellow gave a twenty minute presentation on his/her research. Along with this presentation, we were required to hand in a manuscript of our work. Both of these were really rewarding for me. As someone who absolutely hates public speaking, being forced to do this was very helpful. Also, writing the manuscript was good practice, since next year I will hopefully be entering a Ph.D. program in mathematics. In all, this program was really a great experience. McNair pays for your housing and meals,
I hope that I've given you some idea of what the McNair program is like. I am still involved in the program to date by letting them know where I am applying (and hopefully where I get in) to graduate school, and they help me with applications and recommendations, as well as provide moral support. If you have any questions about McNair that I may not have covered here, or if you would like a program brochure, feel free to blitz me anytime. After Hours in the Machine Shop By Carolyn Rice '95 April 17, 1995 Carolyn Rice '95, an Engineering Sciences major at Dartmouth and active WISP participant, shares her experience with the ENGS 66 class last term, and what she got out of it. The project for this year's ENGS 66 class was to design and build an "apple-picker."
When first given the assignment, my partner and I brainstormed for hours and hours to come up with an initial idea. We came up with crazy ideas, simple and stupid ideas, and occasionally ideas that we were really excited about. When it came down to choosing a final design, we decided that simplicity was the way to go. So after finalizing the drawings of our chosen design, we ventured into the machine shop to start our term-long friendship with everything mechanical. We sawed and sanded and lathed and milled; we made mistakes and machined parts over and over again, and we made a home of the machine shop--sometimes remaining from 8 AM to 8 PM. After a few weeks in the shop, we realized that our design (even though we chose our simplest) was far more complicated than we would have liked, and grew tired of machining what seemed like hundreds of tiny parts. I have to admit that I learned a countless number of machining tricks from making all those tiny parts, but it was very frustrating to spend hours and hours on pieces you could hardly see. Eventually the hard work paid off however, and we felt like it was all worth it as we watched our machine climb the tree to pick several
I think the ENGS 66 class helped prepare me for any job I may find next year, and taught me invaluable lessons about working with a partner, being aggressive when asking questions about an unfamiliar subject, and the importance of efficiency and forethought. By Melody Brown November 9, 1995 Melody Brown, a Dartmouth grad. student working in Antarctica shares her experiences and thoughts about environmental work with WISP. Hello from Antarctica! For those of you I haven't met in meetings, seminars, or classrooms, I am a graduate student in the Earth, Ecology, and Ecosystem Sciences (EEES) program working on my Ph.D. down here on the southernmost continent. I'm actually writing to you (via satellite to my blitz account) from the Crary Science Laboratory in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. McMurdo is the major U.S. base down here and the deployment center for all remote field camps (i.e. the Central West Antarctic ice sheet, Byrd Station, and South Pole).
The opportunity to interact with such a diverse array of scientists is, to me, one of the most exciting aspects of working in Antarctica (of course, seeing penguins is quite high on the list, too!) and it has been my experience that similar opportunities for
By Christie Jackson '97 July 13, 1996 Christie Jackson '97 is a BENV major working in Dr. Carol Folt's lab studying copepods. This is an essay she wrote last month for a contest sponsored by The Collaboration for Equity: Fairness in Mathematics and Science. Dr. Seuss once said: "Oh the places you'll go! The people you'll meet!" This is how I view science: it doesn't just try to answer questions about nature: it is your ticket to explore areas and places and meet people you never would have thought possible.
Did you ever think about what lives in water? Not the water you drink, but in lakes and streams, rivers and ponds? A lot of people will answer: "Oh, that's easy, fish!" That is true, but there are a lot more critters swimming around than you might initially think. Creatures that when you look into water you might only see just that, water, but, if you take the water and look at it under the microscope, a circus of organisms explodes! I started my adventure working in an aquatics lab in Wisconsin during high school, exploring ingestion studies of a protozoan based on bacterial size and shape. I know you are asking: "And what does THAT mean??" Well, it would be like if I gave you a hamburger and hot dog and asked you to tell the difference between them and which one you liked more. (I did this in a slightly more complicated manner though!) At my own bench I zoomed around the lab, sometimes looking vaguely similar to something out of Dr. Frankenstein's lab, with pipettes of solutions from stock chemical bottles strewn around the room, enormous $10,000 microscopes, agar plates full of bacteria in bright pink and white colonies, and dripping beakers of filtering water. On first glance, the water samples seemed to be void of, well anything; then under the careful eye of the microscope, the water blossomed with life! One shouldn't underestimate the sea's "invisible" lively organisms and chemical components that set the stage for all of life to flourish under the water's surface. Protozoans zoom around like bumper cars frantically waving their cilia for propulsion. Tiny rotifers spinning around like tops. In one small beaker of water, you could have more than 50 different organisms! And they say good things come in small packages. (Never thought you could be able to use that cliche on something aquatic, did you!) My love of the water has taken me beyond my home in Wisconsin to programs all over the world. One time I remember sailing in Nova Scotia while doing science research. I was on night bow-watch, which meant I had to be on the lookout for ships and other random floating objects. This night, however, was calm; only one light seemed to float on the horizon, sea and sky not distinguishable in the black abyss. The wind was cool against my cheek and the salt water spray from the waves left a gritty film over my eyelashes and rain slicker. As I stood at the bow, I began to sing to keep myself company, as it was dark and quiet. The moon's reflection cast dancing rays of light on the black velvet waves. The ship gently bobbed, in rhythm with the sea. All of the sudden, as I was half-way through "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel, I heard what I can only describe as high-pitch laughing and the crashing of waves. I gingerly peered over the front of the ship (careful not to fall over). What did I see? Four dolphins playing in the waves hitting the hull of the ship. I was in awe. Now, what happened next
Not only did my love of marine biology take me to bask with watchful eye the ocean from above, but also, my passion took me far below to the depths. I became a certified scuba diver in order to be "one with the fish," so to speak. I was able to put my skills to work by studying in Jamaica for a month at a laboratory there. Everyday, we would get to dive
Once I was studying Christmas tree worm, which look like pink, brown, and yellow pine trees, but are small enough to sit on your thumb and close up like an umbrella if you venture too close. I was poking my head in-between a few rocks suspended upside-down just like you would be in space. I stuck my head a little too far into a hole, only to have a moray eel spring out at my nose, which it must have thought was lunch. I jerked back in surprise. I was not scared, but in awe of the mysteries that every coral, every rock, every bit of sand or overhang held. Amazing, simply amazing! Now, I am working in a more tame setting, in a lab studying copepods which are very small and very frisky aquatic organisms which are at the base of the food chain. Every week I go out sampling in a local pond which is surrounded by the mountains in a grove of pine and maple trees. I especially like it in autumn when the hues of gold, rust, and orange reflect on the calm water's surface, almost like a Monet painting. I go out and take measurements of temperature, oxygen levels, visibility, and the creatures that lurk
My philosophy for science has taken me far: for each question that you can study there is an opportunity for you to explore and answer it, you just need to reach out. With my experiences, I have been able to reach out for my dreams and take hold: the ride has taken me from the depths of the oceans at 60 feet to the surface lakes, from the limited confines of a small pond, to the limitless expanses of the Atlantic, from creatures that looked at me with fierce eyes to creatures I needed a microscope eye to behold. To borrow the phrase from Dr. Seuss once more, I would like to alter it, ever so slightly and say: "With Science, oh the places you'll go! The people you'll meet!" Explore! There is a great realm of knowledge and adventure waiting for your questions! By Lois Wood November 2, 1997 Dinsie Williams '97 is from Sierra Leone and has stayed at Dartmouth to do a master's degree in biomedical engineering at Thayer School. "I like to get people moving - I like to get them out of their rooms." Dinsie Williams D'97 has been a mover and shaker ever since she came to Dartmouth. For three years, she has been the moving force behind the Dartmouth chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers
Now that Dinsie has embarked on an M.S. program in biomedical engineering with Professor Keith Paulsen, she has passed along the reins for NSBE on campus, although she still pushes hard from the back row. Working with African and Caribbean students took a lot of time during her undergrad years; she also did 10-20 hours of outside work each week, and finished her B.E. in only a summer after graduation. She breathlessly exudes energy and good humor, and looks forward eagerly to her M.S. studies. "For me, there's no question about studying engineering. I could easily have gone into math or chemistry or biology, but what would happen if I got bored?...That will never happen with engineering ‹ engineering combines it all." Thayer School, according to Dinsie, is "like home to me. I think I should pay rent to Thayer School rather than my landlady‹I spend more time here. If the building manager agrees that I can move my bed in, I'm all ready to write the check."
Copied, with permission, from Thayer School of Engineering's Directions magazine, Fall 1997. November 16, 1997 Following are profiles of some of Dartmouth's female MD/PhD candidates reprinted from The Cairn, a newsletter from the MD/PhD program at Dartmouth. Do not hesitate to blitz these students with any questions you may have concerning their research interests or the dual degree program. Marta Hristova comes from Bulgaria and moved to the United States when she was 17 years old. Marta completed her undergraduate work at Whitman College where she had a combined major in chemistry-biology, with a minor in gender studies. Marta's graduate work is in the field of molecular and cellular biology. She is working in a laboratory that is interested in the timing of developmental events and more specifically, in the genes that control that timing in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Her studies focus on the biochemical function of one of those genes, lin-14. Grace Migaki was born and raised in Pullman, Washington. She graduated with a B.A. from Vassar College where she majored in biochemistry and Options (Vassar's equivalent of minors) in marine resource management and in music in 1991. She has attended a number of national research meetings, and has published five research articles and a book chapter. Her previous research interest was in cell adhesion; specifically leukocyte-endothelial interactions and the regulation of L-selection expression. At Dartmouth, she has chosen to study reproductive immunology, with the hope of elucidating the relationship between steroid hormones and the regulation of leukocyte trafficking in the normal female reproductive tract and in various states of reproductive disease. Helen Pogrebinsky received her A.B. in chemistry from Princeton University, an M.S.E.E. in electrical engineering from Boston University, and is working toward her doctoral degree in biomedical engineering. Helen has been a Colligen Fellow at the Thayer School of Engineering and attended the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society. Rebecca "Jo" Renn was born in Lafayette, Indiana. She received her undergraduate degree from MIT in biology and her masters in psychology from Brandeis University. In 1993, Jo began her Dartmouth career with a research focus in cognitive neuroscience where she is performing brain mapping research using functional MRI and patients with brain lesions. She has presented several posters and conference papers including the Convention of the American Psychology Society; New York. Sholeen Smith was raised in Seattle, Washington and graduated from Seattle University with a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in foreign language. She has chosen physiology as her discipline for graduate work, and is investigating the GABAA receptor function in hypothalamic neurons with the goal of determining region-specific and sex-specific differences in function and structure, which may underlie the differences seen in adult sexual behavior. During her Dartmouth career, she has received a National Research Service Award fellowship from National Institute of Mental Health. She has one publication in Neuroendocrinology and another one in Brain Research. By Simone Swink '98 February 22, 1998 What Jennifer Gagne '99, Jill Perring '99, and Sarah Klmenson '99 enjoy about their undergraduate research experiences, and their advice on how to get involved in research. While many of us labor away in weekly science lab sessions or are attending lecture, several women are working full-time in labs on campus and up at DHMC as Hughes grant recipients. Jennifer Gagne '99 is spending her term researching the effects of ethanol on superficial flexor muscle systems in the crayfish. Specifically, she's applying ethanol and observing the effects of it on neurotransmitters. Jennifer became intrigued in this type of research through her Biology 34 class with Professor Vélez during her sophomore year where she learned the bases of the scientific protocol that she is applying now. Last fall, she was a teaching assistant for Bio 34 and she talked with Professor Vélez about doing research with him during her off-term. She applied for the Hughes grant, was accepted, and is planning to parlay this term's research into honors research in biology next year.
Research is something that has fascinated Jennifer since her sophomore high school biology class. She mentioned that she's "always like solving puzzles" which makes biological research a perfect career for her. As she plots her research strategy for the rest of her undergraduate career, she is also looking at PhD programs.
Sarah Kelmenson '99 spends much of her time with rats. A fellow researcher in the lab inserts EEG electrodes in the rats' brains and another researcher puts an EMG in the neck muscle and a dialysis probe in the rats' brains. Sarah then injects CO2 into the brain which causes the rats' respiration cycles to increase. The various probes and electrodes are hooked into computers. Using the brain wave data generated by the injection of CO2, Sarah analyzes how the various sleep patterns change. Looking at the CO2 response in sleep patterns may lead to more information about what causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. As a prospective doctor, Sarah finds this "big picture" to which her research may contribute a satisfying part of her lab experience. During our interview, both Sarah and Jill emphasized that the constant contact in the lab with professors, especially the directors of the labs, is beneficial and inspiring. Not only will they eventually have recommendations from professors who know them well, but both women commented that the advice from fellow labworkers [who range from seniors and graduate students to postdoctoral candidates] as well as professors is invaluable. Jill also mentioned that working in the lab 40 hours a week confirms how much she enjoys research and the problem solving involved with the labwork. For Sarah, the experience has been enjoyable, but she is still firmly planning to attend medical school.
To apply for a Hughes grant, go to the second floor of Wentworth and pick up an application from Marie Bean's office. Applications are usually due around the sixth week of the preceding term. All the grant recipients emphasized talking to people in the lab before applying for grant monies and committing to working there so you know what kind of environment you will be in and the kind of people with whom you will be working. By Simone Swink '98 April 19, 1998 College is a time in which we are all encouraged to explore a range of academic disciplines. I arrived at my history major after experimenting with courses in the earth science, government, and environmental studies departments. But I never considered engineering. It's the one major that seems strangely untouchable unless you have a strong bent for math or science. Like me, Anne Loomis '99 never thought to become an engineer. In fact, she declared an English major during her sophomore year. At the time, she also decided to minor in Women's Studies. Both of her humanities' interests stemmed from classes that she took freshman year. When she arrived at Dartmouth from a small town in Florida, she was intrigued by the Woman's Studies listing so she ventured to their open house. "Women's Studies? What exactly is that?" she asked them. "Exactly what the name says" was the reply from those at the open house. Curious to explore a discipline never encountered during her education so far, she signed up for a course and eventually secured a job in the department maintaining their webpage and keeping track of their journals. During freshman year, she concentrated on fulfilling her distributives while her friends charged into their chosen disciplines. To satisfy her math requirement, she enrolled in Math 11 freshman fall and found it hard and at times‹consuming.
On the second day of class, Anne approached Professor Linda Wilson to explain that she was an English major. As Anne said, "I didn't know how well I'd do in the class, and [I wanted to] see even if that was OK with her." Professor Wilson told Anne that she had switched from math to engineering during her senior year in college and she encouraged Anne to explore
The importance of mentors is continually emphasized as a key influence keeping women in the sciences. Anne's switch from a Woman's Studies to an Engineering minor is directly linked to the encouragement and inspiration she received from Professor Wilson. "To hear from others that they anticipate your excellence has the most amazing effect. It's one thing to know that you're bright (if you've made it to Dartmouth, you can be sure of that), but to know that someone else expects you to succeed can really make you work that much harder to actually make it happen."
By Simone Swink '98 May 3, 1998 Display cases in the hallways of the Thayer School show students huddled together over bits of machinery and parts of a slowly growing skeleton of a race car. That skeleton yearly evolves into a sleek racing vehicle driven by Thayer students at the national Formula SAE competition. For students within Thayer, knowledge of the Formula SAE car seems common. For students outside the engineering school, the race car is something that we might have heard an engines friend discussing or we see occasionally written up in The Dartmouth.
Formula SAE started in the late 1970's when SAE International agreed to sponsor several regional racing competitions. The rules evolved during the 1980s and the competition began attracting engineers from all over the United States. The appeal of the competition was the challenge to create an automobile prototype for a race car that costs no more than $8500. Teams from over 120 universities "each spend a year conceiving, designing, and fabricating a prototype (1997 Formula SAE program)." The Dartmouth team started four years ago from scratch, driven to enter the competition with a viable prototype through sheer determination. Many of those involved have known little about cars but as Jeff Buck '95, the team's founder said in a 1995 D article "Most people involved are just race car enthusiasts. They know very little coming in and learn by doing." Another team leader, Mike McNelis '96 commented in the same article that "There are a lot of really bright, motivated people. All we have to do is tap into it."
Awed but excited by the project, Amanda agreed to attack the problem of oil starvation. Professor Benoit Cushman-Roisin, a Thayer professor expert in fluids, agreed to advise the project and, along with Dorros, the three of them drafted a proposal in November. After receiving approval from the engineering department, Amanda began winter term, paper and pencil in hand, figuring out exactly what the oil starvation problem involved. Simple calculations like finding out how fast the car went for how long during competition were crucial to figuring out how to solve the oil problem. Satisfied with her paper and pencil calculations, she crudely tested an old engine by strapping it into a wooden crate to make sure that, if she mimicked the engine's slant as the car went around a sharp curve, the engine would be momentarily exposed to the air causing the oil pressure to drop. Solving the problem of oil starvation progressed slowly. With no formal engineering training, Amanda found herself resorting to sheer intuition at times to figure out how to build a better oil pan. As the term progressed, she found that team members, happy to have another enthusiastic pair of hands working on the car, were willing to offer their help. When she felt she had finally designed an oil pan which would prevent the air exposure, there was no way to test it aside from putting it in the car and seeing if the oil light flashed when the car rounded corners. A friend offered to let her strap an engine with her oil pan prototype in the back of his truck and then drive speedily around the Thayer parking lot so she could test her project. But his truck could not approach the speed of the race car so the test was useless. As the end of the term approached and she and Cushman felt the best possible solution had been devised, she constructed the model from plexiglass and presented her design formally to an intrigued audience of professors, Thayer students, and other friends.
Completing her independent study has not been the end of her involvement with the car. Instead of designing and improving a part, she is now primarily assisting with fundraising and administrative work and has also helped the team put parts of the car together. As an added bonus, she even attended driving school with the team at the beginning of spring term. A few weeks ago, she dragged me down to the bowels of Thayer to see the car. It was still in the skeletal stages. The engine, steering wheel, and seat had all just been attached. And underneath the engine, Amanda pointed to a shiny metal contraption and said "That's mine." We stood there and stared at it for a minute. I was not exactly sure what I was looking at even though she explained the principles behind it. But what was very apparent was how pleased she was that all her work had resulted in a material contribution to the racing car. Curiosity and enthusiasm, not engineering classes or training, shaped her successful experience. Her experience proves that, in the end, it's the attitude that dictates the success of women in science. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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An Interview with Karen Menuz '99 By Anne H. Loomis '99 November 16, 1998 Karen Menuz never doubted she'd major in math or science. A former Women in Science Project (WISP) First-Year Intern and Presidential Scholar, she's done scientific research with a number of institutions at home and abroad. Considering her enthusiasm and experience, it's hard to believe that Karen changed her mind several times before deciding to double major in Biophysical Chemistry and Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Even though her interests may have changed, Karen never let a moment of indecision deter her from her pursuit of opportunity. Karen came to Dartmouth certain that she would major in math. So much so, in fact, that even though she had placed out of a number of major requirements, she still took at least one math class each term of her freshman year. But as she began to explore the sciences,
Karen's initial interest in mathematics led her to a WISP internship in the Math and Social Sciences Department. "It's actually part of the reason I chose Dartmouth," Karen says. "There aren't a lot of schools that offer incoming students the chance to do research alongside a professor. With WISP internships, you don't even have to go ask professors if you can work with them. They automatically pair you with a person doing research in a field you like." In retrospect, Karen laughs about how her mathematics internship foreshadowed her soon to be discovered interest in neuroscience. "What we were doing was studying attention
Toward the end of her freshman year, Karen was torn between a major in math or physics. Such indecision might keep some from pursuing research opportunities, but Karen was undaunted. The summer after her freshman year, even though she had only taken a few
At Penn State, Karen also learned a lot about how physics research differs from basic class learning. "The intro classes in Newtonian physics aren't really valid for upper level physics," Karen says. "We were doing electron diffraction -- bouncing electrons off a metal to determine how the molecular structure of its surface differed from the molecular structure of its inside. It was a totally different experience from sitting in a big lecture hall listening to what happens when you push on a wall." By sophomore fall, Karen was ready to make a decision about her major. She was pretty sure she'd major in math or physics, but remembered having enjoyed Biology/Psychology 3, "Introduction to Neuroscience," which she'd taken to fulfill her interdisciplinary distributive requirement. So in addition to her math and physics classes, she enrolled in Biology 34, Neurobiology, with Professor Velez. That's when she discovered her love for learning about how the nervous system forms the brain, and how its neurotransmitters work.
At the beginning of her sophomore spring, Karen's enthusiasm for neuroscience had not waned. She applied to be a Presidential Scholar, and did her project with Dr. Robert Maue, a professor of Neuroscience at the Dartmouth Medical School, determining the structures of various proteins. She continued to pursue research in neuroscience and ended up working at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany for four months. There, she worked in a neurobiology department, studying the regeneration of nerves. "You know how your nerves regenerate in your finger? It's not like you cut yourself and then you can't feel it anymore. But nerves don't regenerate the same way in the brain. We were studying the regulation integrins, molecules that are thought to play a role in inhibiting nerves from regenerating." Karen's decision to double major in Biophysical Chemistry and Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology has allowed her to continue learning about the field she loves to research. And even though it means taking eight major classes this year, Karen has few regrets about having switched majors early on. She agrees that the courses she took in other departments have helped to shape her analytical skills, and have given her new ways to view the questions that are asked within her own major. "I do feel like I took too many math classes too early, but no one can say that math isn't useful. Plus, there are a lot of applications for things like multivariable calculus and quantum mechanics to chemistry, and you probably need them for grad school." Graduate study in neuroscience is definite in Karen's future, but like many seniors, she's somewhat uncertain about what she'll do between now and then. "I thought I wanted to go into
Agnieszka Borkowska wins Funding for Studies of Satellite Images of Forestation in the Second College Grant By Anne Loomis '99 January 25, 1999 On a first impression, you might not suspect that Agnieszka Borkowska, a soft-spoken '99 who makes pancakes for her friends on Sunday mornings in her Channing-Cox apartment, is an award-winning scientist. But Borkowska has been working in Dick Bernie's lab in the Earth Sciences department since her freshman year, and is one of four '99 women to win a Richter Grant in the sciences this year. "My thesis is informally titled 'Measuring Forest Change at the Second College Grant, NH, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) Data'. Basically, I'm looking at satellite images from 1990 and 1998," says Borkowska, "and I'm trying to date areas of forest that have been clear cut, based on remote sensing data. We're just getting started, but it's pretty exciting."
But after working for a while in the Earth Sciences Department, Borkowska realized that it was the place for her. "It's a very small department, very casual, and I love that," she says. "One of the best things about Dartmouth is that even in such a small department, you'll still be getting a quality education." Although after her internship had ended, Borkowska could have chosen to work with any number of professors or graduate students in the department, Borkowska decided to keep working with Professor Bernie. "He taught me about remote sensing for his web page, and then I took his remote sensing course. After that it was just so obvious that he would be my thesis advisor. I really like working with him." "He's a great professor, and a great advisor. He's very good natured, he's humorous, and he would basically do anything for his students." Borkowska has spent over three years in Professor Bernie's lab, but she hasn't been working on the same project the entire time. "I started by writing the web page, and my thesis has to do with similar things, but it's more focused, mostly looking at an area Dartmouth owns called the Second College Grant. I'm trying to determine if there's some kind of linear pattern to the brightness values we get from satellite images of the area."
"After you clear cut," says Borkowska, "things start growing back. This causes the satellite image data, called brightness values, to change. From 1990 to 1998, there's been a huge change in the area that was cut down in 1990, because it had regrown in 1998." If a regular and predictable relationship exists, eventually Borkowska will be able to look at the brightness value from the satellite images and be able to tell when the area was cut down. "Hopefully, this research will lead to more information about how a forest reacts and changes after it's been clear cut. It will teach us a lot about forest ecology." Borkowska's research may also teach us something about technology, by showing the extent to which satellite imaging can be used. "If I can use satellite images to get data that hasn't been known before," says Borkowska, "it would be great!" But satellite images are fairly expensive. "The satellite we get our images from is LandSat TM. It's a private satellite, and we purchase images from companies that download the information from it. That's where most of my Richter Grant money is going." In addition to the funding she has received from the Richter Grant, support for Borkowska's thesis comes from the College Woodlands Office, the Mellon Fund, and NASA. To other students interested in applying for Richter Grants, Borkowska has two pieces of advice. First of all, start early. "It takes quite a while to get your thesis ideas down on paper, and you want to have time to write out a good, short and to the point proposal. And," she adds with a smile, "you should definitely work with your advisor a lot."
Sarah Valkenburgh, '99 Finds a Crossroads for Science and Service by Anne Loomis '99 February 8, 1999 When seeking out scientific experiences at Dartmouth, most students look to the scientific community, finding opportunity by talking to professors, applying for established internships and research grants, or writing theses. But for Sarah Valkenburgh, a '99 Pre-Med and Biochemistry major who spent last summer working in a Costa Rican hospital, opportunity came not through the scientific community, but through the community service network. From Valkenburgh's perspective, her experience abroad taught her more about medicine than she could have hoped to learn working in the United States. Valkenburgh, a right back on the women's soccer team and an eating disorders peer advisor, began her scientific studies at Dartmouth by doing a WISP internship on signal detection theory with Robert Norman, a professor in mathematics and social science. "We had a computer and it would generate different tones," says Valkenburgh. "We were making predictions about whether or not a subject would hear a tone if you asked them to listen for one tone and then you played another that was higher than the original one." Although she didn't stay on with professor Norman, Valkenburgh's interest in the sciences remained, and her junior year, she began looking for opportunities to gain experience in a medical field. Thinking she might like to volunteer in a foreign hospital, Valkenburgh turned to the Tucker Foundation. "I knew that I wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country," says Valkenburgh, "because I went on an LSA in Barcelona and I wanted to keep my Spanish up."
After talking with the other Dartmouth students who had gone to Costa Rica, Valkenburgh e-mailed Gail Nystrom, the woman in charge of the program, to see if she could get involved. "She wrote back, and said that they loved having volunteers. She helped me get set up with the hospital that I ended up working at, because she has connections with a lot of different projects." With Nystrom's help, Valkenburgh ended up working in the Hospital Nacional de Niños, the only children's hospital in Costa Rica. Because she was volunteering, Valkenburgh had to look to outside sources for funding, and found money for her trip to Costa Rica through the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. "I did a Dickey internship. It's an international internship and more of an academic kind than a Tucker internship, which I see as more of a volunteer experience. Since my experience was kind of a combination of the two, I applied for both, and I ended up getting a Dickey." During the first half of her stay in Costa Rica, Valkenburgh worked in the hospital's trauma and burn unit, taking care of burn victims who were seven months to eleven years old. "I would go in and read them books, or do puzzles with them, or feed them if they needed help eating. That part wasn't as much of a medical experience, but it taught me the importance of human interaction to the doctor-patient relationship."
In addition to her observations, Valkenburgh also got some hands-on experience in the operating room from time to time. "They were all tumor removals, but it was amazing. They had me scrub down, put on gloves, and let me use a vacuum to suck away smoke and blood, which they'd never let a pre-med student do here. I learned a lot from that part of the experience. More, I think, than I might ever have learned working as an intern in the United States." Valkenburgh is currently doing an independent study on athletes and bone density with Dr. Lee Witters from the Dartmouth Medical School, and plans to take a year off before applying to medical schools herself. But she definitely plans to get back to Costa Rica someday, she says, "whether it's for vacation or once I'm a doctor and can go back and teach them how we practice medicine in the United States."
Receives Grant for Summer Research by Susannah Maurer '02 July 6, 1999 As the new feature-writer for the summer term, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Susannah Maurer and I'm a member of the Class of 2002. I would describe myself as an avid writer, and I have been looking for an opportunity to write outside the realm of news journalism here at Dartmouth. I'm excited about the chance to interview interesting women who are enthusiastic and passionate about their experiences in the field of science and in WISP. I especially hope to keep people reading the newsletter over the summer! For freshmen, the summer after their first year at Dartmouth tends to be thought of as the last summer of freedom. It's the last one they'll have before junior year, and by then, there is pressure to obtain "real" work -- an internship, a job in their possible career field, etc. Yet, even this summer, quite a few freshmen are dotting the campus, whether it be to work, to take classes or to do research. Another summer at home wasn't enticing enough to keep first-year student Keely Beck from the opportunity to continue research with her WISP internship sponsor, Dr. Constance Brinckerhoff, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the medical school. Keely worked with Dr. Brinckerhoff during the winter and spring terms and was enjoying her experience so much that she was already considering the option of staying on for the summer. "I applied for the First Year Research Grant at the end of winter, sometime in March," Keely explained. "Actually, Dr. Brinckerhoff approached me and asked me 'What are you doing this summer?' And I said, 'Well, I'd like to stay here.' She said, 'Oh, that's great, because I was going to ask you.'"
The research work itself encompasses a large project of Dr. Brinckerhoff's that involves people
After experiencing the difficulty and competitiveness of obtaining work in a lab during the fall term, Keely is appreciative of the opportunity her WISP internship and consequent research work has given her. "I'm interested in career research although I'm still undecided as to a career path. The great thing about the WISP internship and working in a lab is that you get to see all the different stages of career research. There are graduate students, post-doctorates, and professors. That's a really important part of the experience because you get to talk to all of them and see what they're up to." When I asked Keely about her experience as a woman in the lab this summer, it was encouraging to find that she hadn't noticed a gender gap at all. In fact, her lab included a majority of women researchers. She acknowledges that things are different in other fields, but considering the history of women in science, it's heartening to find an instance of the equal representation women have long been working to attain. By Kathryn Greer '00 February 7, 2000 Jessica Morey is a member of the class of 2002 who not only completed a WISP internship last year, but also traveled and did research in Alaska as a result! Through her WISP internship with the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab (CRREL) Jessica was able to do field work in the Tanana Flats, a large wetlands area south of Fairbanks, Alaska. Her adventures began last fall with a desire to do work in the natural sciences before starting her engineering major.
The internship involved studying the different rates of melting in different regions of the Tanana Flats in Alaska. For example, the ground under birch trees tends to thaw faster than the ground under spruce trees. Jessica explained that one cause for this was that the land under the birch trees was warmer, because birch trees lose their leaves in the fall, while spruce trees do not lose their needles. With no leaves in the fall and winter, more sunlight can shine through and more snow can fall on the ground around the birch tree trunks than around the spruces. More snow falling each winter means more water melts into the ground each spring, causing more water to melt into the permafrost. When the permafrost melts, the water in the frozen soil melts into one
In the lab at CRREL, the group studied cylindrical core samples of soil from the Tanana Flats. Each core was three inches in diameter and three meters long. Every fifteen centimeters, the researchers cut off a cylindrical section of the soil core and determine the percentage that was ice, the percentage that was sand, clay or silt, and the chemical signature of the section. The chemical signature of a piece of soil involves the relative amounts of various important ions (molecules with positive or negative charges). After a period of instruction, Jessica was able to work somewhat independently, and even become a part of the decision process when she noted patterns and trends in her results. Though her internship had ended, Jessica knew she was going to be in New Hampshire for the summer and found that if she continued working at CRREL, she would be able to participate in fieldwork in Alaska later that summer. In Alaska, Jessica worked across the Tanana River from Fairbanks, in the Tanana Flats. This area has forests of black spruce and birch trees. The permafrost in The Flats has a temperature that is only 1 degree Celsius away from melting; thus it is not very stable and is at great risk of melting to become swampland. Thus, determining the relative rates of melting and the causes therein is of vital importance. Each day the crew took a helicopter out to The Flats, and then drilled permafrost cores and collected water samples to ship back to Hanover for later research and analysis. They also installed temperature monitoring equipment in various areas of the region. They took measurements of pH, air and water temperatures, and conductivity as well. These measurements were taken to determine the different soil types and makeup's in the various areas of The Flats and also to determine which soils caused more ice lensing than others. They also measured the different rates of ground loss, measuring the depth of thaw during 1999, and basically measuring any physical differences in the site since the last trip out. While she enjoyed her work with CRREL, Jessica plans to continue with her original plan to be an engineering major, and hopes to eventually complete a senior fellowship studying sustainable community design. A sustainable community is one that uses technology to create little or no waste (or else to use it, as with a bio-gas generator in which composted materials are kept under anaerobic conditions to make natural gas), and also uses energy only from sustainable resources, such as solar power. For all students completing WISP internships right now, I asked Jessica if she had any words of
Karen Miller, Chemist ExtraordinaireBy Kathryn Greer '00 February 21, 2000 Karen Miller '00 is one who always seems to know what's going on, especially in chemistry classes. Having worked on a group lab project with her, I can say that this woman truly does know her chemistry. She not only knows her chemistry for classes, but has also done much chemistry work outside the classroom. Karen came to Dartmouth with the intention of majoring in chemistry, but thought her chemistry career would end at that. She knew she had an interest in chemistry, and chose Dartmouth in part because of the chemistry department's excellent reputation.
During her sophomore summer, Karen worked as a lab assistant to Professor Gordon Gribble in the chemistry department. Professor Gribble's specialty lay in organic chemistry, so Karen was able to learn yet more about this branch of chemistry that continued to fascinate her. Because she had enjoyed her chemistry classes so much, she had applied for a Presidential Scholar program in organic chemistry with Professor David Lemal her sophomore spring. She switched to working in Professor Lemal's laboratory and has been working there since her junior fall. The Presidential Scholar program is a two-term commitment, and if a student completes just the two terms, he or she is called a Research Assistant. If the student's research culminates in a thesis, as Karen plans to do, the student is considered a Presidential Scholar. Karen worked in Professor Lemal's lab as a Presidential Scholar for her junior fall, and then decided to work on-campus full-time that spring as she was not taking classes. Karen worked in Professor Lemal's laboratory with the aid of a Howard Hughes Biomedical Science Grant, which allowed her to live in Hanover and work full-time in the lab. Though the Howard Hughes grant is no longer available to students, she noted that students interested in going into the sciences as a career can apply for several research grants available to students on campus, such as the Richter Honor Thesis Grant. Karen advises students speak with Sandy Gregg, who works to coordinate grants for students.
While Karen truly enjoys her work, she does find it frustrating at times, especially in regard to time. "It's difficult to schedule lab work because if you're in a situation where you have a three-hour block of time and something takes you two and a half hours when you thought it would take you a half hour, it can get very frustrating." Karen also has many other activities that she must balance with her intense lab work. She is an active member of Chamber Singers, and wrote "Bard by a Crystal Fountain," a musical mixture of skits and songs performed by the Chamber Singers this winter. Karen also has a part-time job and is a member of the Casque and Gauntlet senior society. While she finds it difficult at times to balance all of these activities with her hours in the lab, she certainly has success at it and finds it very rewarding. Karen is currently hearing from and deciding on graduate schools in chemistry for next year. She plans to spend about five years getting a Ph.D. in organic synthesis and eventually work in industry rather than academia. Karen worked for Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals this past summer and was impressed by the environment she found in industry work. Karen commented, "I'm just amazed with the resources that they have in industry, and you can do...any chemistry you would want...It is limiting in a sense because it has to be something that's...applicable to pharmaceuticals." However, the pharmaceutical industry is vast and Karen is very excited about the prospect of working in industry in the future. Karen's advice to other students interested in doing lab work as an undergraduate is to
Many opportunities exist for students to study and work in many fields of science. Professors are great resources for finding a research job, as are upperclassmen students who may know of positions and openings. If you wish to work in a lab, take a bit of effort and you can do just that. The WISP Interns... An Update!By Kathryn Greer '00 May 1, 2000 This year's WISP Interns have been working busily for the past few months on projects ranging from machines smaller than a human hair to determining which parts of the brain are responsive to stimulation of the tongue. They have been working all over the Hanover area, from laboratories in the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab (CRREL) just north of campus, to labs in DHMC, to labs on the Dartmouth campus. They have learned much about their respective fields and also more about what their goals and interests are for the future. Intern Heidi Williams, a member of the class of 2003, was even given the opportunity to lecture for a day in a geography class as a result of her internship. Her project involves work with the Human Development Index, which Heidi describes as, "a measurement framework designed by the United Nations to rate countries or other geographical units on the joint basis of life expectancy, education and income." The UN uses this index to determine aid and resource allocations for countries that are potential recipients. Heidi's role in the project is to investigate the stability of the index and how it is used in decisions regarding funding and resource
Lisa Torrey, also in the class of 2003, is working in the engineering department with micromachines. The project she works on involves the construction of a device that generates smells‹but is smaller than a human hair. Lisa has been designing a software program as well as making sample devices using photolithography and etching, and testing the programs and devices for effectiveness.
Her favorite part of the internship is her employer‹she feels that she has learned much from him. He is a good resource and has also helped her gain exposure in an aspect of engineering that she is very interested in. While Gail is not leaning towards research as a career right now, she has enjoyed the internship experience very much.
More importantly, Jennifer has found her "scientific home at Dartmouth." She feels that being a part of the group of scientists who work in her lab will help her stay motivated as she continues to study science. Jennifer "feel[s] really fortunate to be a part of this program." WISP has certainly helped her to feel more comfortable in the lab world at Dartmouth. Overall, the students I was in contact with are very happy with their internships. Though not all of them have decided to continue in their fields, all are excited that they have had the
Chat with a Fulbright: Meet Robin Brewer '01An Interview By Surabhi Gaur '03 May 1, 2001 A few days ago I had the pleasure of talking to Robin Brewer, a Fulbright scholar who is going to France this September for approximately a year to study engineering. Robin is an engineering major who has always had visions of working on an international level, even before her arrival at Dartmouth. Robin is originally from Jackson, Wyoming. Even as a child she has always entertained visions of the world abroad. Robin told me, "Ever since I was a child, I've wanted to live internationally and travel internationally. So I had a fairly good idea that, if possible, I really wanted to take a year off and study [abroad]."
That is not to say that Robin has not done her share of engineering related study here at Dartmouth. As a Presidential Scholar for Dr. Kennedy, Robin studied the failure of polyethylene in knee replacements. This experience set the stage for her thesis which deals with the oxidation of high molecular weight polyethylene. Robin walked me through the process of applying for the Fulbright, and by the time she was done, I agreed with her that it was "a long process--by far the longest process [ever]." Robin
Obviously a person with respect for knowledge and intellectualism, Robin has a long list of classes she enjoyed during her four years here. Among her engineering classes, Robin's favorites include Engineering 20 (Introduction to Computer Science and its Applications to Engineering), Engineering 25 (Thermodynamics) and Engineering 31 (Digital Electronics). Robin genuinely found those courses rewarding and commented, "That's one of the things I love about my engineering
Robin's non-academic activities at Dartmouth are just as varied as her academic interests. Robin has been co-captain of the cheerleading team for the last two years. She has also been a dedicated Big Sister for the past three years. As mentioned before, she was a presidential scholar and preceding that she was a WISP Intern as well (see, there's one around every corner). Robin is not one hundred percent certain what she will pursue upon her return to the United States. When asked, she answered, "All of that right now is just a question mark that I'm going to deal with when I get back in the US." She is fairly confident however, that she would like to take a few years off of school, probably hold a job for two to three years and then pursue a more
Women in science can use a dose of 'hokiness' from time to time - hey, what's the harm? Worst case, you'll find yourself in France for a year.
Profile of a True Scholar:
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| response of, "Encouraging." This was after she declared him, "The coolest guy in the world." I'm not kidding about that. Alisa cannot ever recall him being upset with anyone over any blunder that took place in the lab. His answer was always, "Mistakes happen." His guidance and expertise in his field were an invaluable resource in molding her academic - and soon to be professional - life. | When asked to describe Professor Hamilton in one word, Alisa did not hesitate in her response of, "Encouraging." This was after she declared him, "The coolest guy in the world." |
With such positives working in her favor at the lab, Alisa was determined to earn her keep, if you will. Totaling all of the funds she had access to, as well as travel and accomodation packages she
| ...committees look for the student's depth of understanding and her desire to learn. Committees also appreciate a student with a clear focus and a "definite project of study." | was awarded in honor of her exceptional work, Alisa's grant money topples upwards of $25,000 to $30,000. Some of her major grants include her Presidential Scholarship, Beckman Fellowship, and the Goldwater Scholarship. Alisa claimed that the major components to winning these fellowships were "a lot of enthusiasm, sincere interest and grades." Such factors emerge during the interviews, where committees look for the student's depth of understanding and her desire to learn. |
| Committees also appreciate a student with a clear focus and a "definite project of study." Not surprisingly, Alisa joined other scholarship winners who have spoken with WISP in saying that while the application processes can be taxing, they are certainly well worth the trouble. | |
Alisa confided that she had entered Dartmouth as an aspiring biology major, but a few chemistry classes changed her mind. She ultimately chose her major as biophysical chemistry and minored in French--an eclectic combination, to say the least. She will pursue her studies in biophysics at Johns Hopkins in the fall. Since she spent a majority of her Dartmouth career studying pharmacology and toxicology through her research, initially it made sense to Alisa to obtain her Ph.D. in the field. Upon further inspection, however, she learned that she was not ready to narrow down her field of study so early on in her years as a graduate student. She spoke warmly of her Dartmouth experiences--in the lab and in the classroom--and pointed out that, "The research that I do is very focused, but the classes I have taken have been very broad." As Alisa found her fit in Professor Hamilton's lab, she also found her fit at Johns Hopkins. Alisa explained, "The cool thing about the biophysics department, I thought, is that I can probably pick a project that relates somehow to toxicology but still be taking classes that will give me a solid, more general science background." She also found their program in biophysical chemistry to overlap many human health interests, which appeals to Alisa as well. Alisa even expressed interest in pursuing a masters in public health which would be an open door to her at Hopkins if she should so desire.
Alisa was blunt in emphasizing the importance of knowing people. For example, she expects her transition to toxicology to be a smooth one at Hopkins because she is confident that there are plenty of researchers at Hopkins with whom she can collaborate. Alisa's trust in networking was
| born in her work here at Dartmouth. She observed and admired Professor Hamilton's ability to cooperate with people from various departments in an effort to further scientific knowledge collectively. Alisa's openness with other researchers revealed that at the core, she is a genuine scholar: science is not about the journal publications, citations and fancy conferences. Science is about dedication and the advancement of knowledge--science is for the benefit of everyone. Moreover, she advises students considering graduate programs to pursue universities with a particular researcher in a particular field: "If there is an area that you're interested in, and you've been reading the literature, look at some names, look at their schools." Such | "Alisa's openness with other researchers revealed that at the core, she is a genuine scholar: science is not about the journal publications, citations and fancy conferences. Science is about dedication and the advancement of knowledge - science is for the benefit of everyone." |
| tactics are a common practice. Early contact with the right person at the right school can make for a brighter, more fulfilling future. If in doubt, Alisa recommends, "Talk to people in the field itself; they know best." | |
Hopefully Alisa's experience and her counsel have struck a chord with you. Her words carry worthwhile lessons, even if your career goals do not mirror hers. Of her many fine attributes, her eagerness to develop relationships, particularly with her mentor, have enhanced her academic life and will no doubt serve her well far into the future.
| "Cognitive science is an up-and-coming science discipline that studies cognition as a means of processing information." | You have seen it in the ORC, next to the linguistics section. The introduction calls it a combination of philosophy, cognitive and physiological psychology, linguistics and computer science. It seems to have something to do with the brain, but what IS it? This week's feature article will elaborate on the enigma that is cognitive science. |
Cognitive science is an up-and-coming science discipline that studies cognition as a means of processing information. Cognitive scientists study "the nature of perception and memory, the neural processes that are involved in complex capacities (for instance reasoning, language, knowledge, and intelligence), and computational techniques that can serve to model these capacities," according to the department's web page. Cognition itself is the process of knowing, including awareness and judgment as factors.
| Students majoring in cognitive science must take courses from the philosophy, computer science, linguistics, and psychology departments. Amy Tindell is among the few whom dared to step beyond traditional majors into the interdisciplinary cognitive science major. She happened | "I can have three major courses in one term and it's no big deal, because they could be in three different departments." |
Amy follows a general departmental pattern for her major. The cognitive science major has several pre-requirements, several core classes in which students learn about theoretical issues involved in studying cognitive science, and, finally, the choice of four classes from a list of possible electives. The philosophy classes are concentrated mostly in logic and computers. The recommended computer science classes teach C++ and artificial intelligence. The linguistics requirements include the introductory class along with electives in syntax, phonology and semantics. Finally, the psychology requirements concentrate on physiology, learning, memory and other cognition-related topics. Students can fulfill the cumulative experience with a thesis, seminar, or an independent study project.
I was able to participate as a test subject for Amy's current independent project, which she feels will most likely turn into a thesis. I looked through a lens and focused on a central point (an X on a screen), while pictures flashed to the right, center, or left of that point. Amy instructed me not to look at the pictures directly, but to stay focused on the center point. After being exposed to the first group of pictures, all to the right of the center point, I was given a list of three-letter sequences and asked to add letters to make the first word that came to mind. For example: app‹>apple/application/etc. or pea‹> peas/peace/peacock. This was repeated several times with series' of pictures appearing to the right, center and left of the center point. The pictures that appeared on the screen corresponded to many of these three-letter sequences (for example, pictures of a peacock and an apple were shown), though not all of the three-letter sequences had a corresponding picture displayed.
The point of the experiment was to determine if seeing the pictures would affect the word that the subject thought of based on the three-letter "starter." For example, if given letters pea, would a subject be more likely to form the word "peacock" if they had just seen a picture of one in the corner of their eye? The project also tested whether the subject was more likely to write a word whose picture was recently shown on the left side of the focal point, on the right side, or in the center. Apparently I came up with some unusual words, so I am excited to hear about the results.
| Amy declared her interest in the cognitive science major her sophomore year. Because the major requires more classes than most, Amy had to organize her classes very carefully to be able to finish. She was still able to schedule an FSP to Berlin, however, and enjoyed an off-term as well. One advantage to the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive science is that even if Amy had to take three major courses in one term, it was never a mind-numbing experience. This was not only because she enjoyed her classes so much, but also because she could take courses in any of four different departments. | "If you think you may be interested in studying cognitive science, contact professors in the department. Questions would be well directed to Professor Leonore Grenoble, the department chairŠ Amy also recommends taking philosophy 1, linguistics 1, psychology 1, and computer science 5 as early as possible." |
| Cognitive science is a growing field, especially in research, with new computer technology and other advanced instruments that make it easier to study the intricacies of the brain. | philosophy 1, linguistics 1, psychology 1, and computer science 5 as early as possible to get a start on the many requirements for the major. Many of the classes required are offered only once or twice a year, so taking pre-requirements early is important. She also recommends getting to know professors in the various departments. They can not only write recommendations, but also can help with independent projects and advise for future plans. |
Cognitive science is a growing field, especially in research, with new computer technology and other advanced instruments that make it easier to study the intricacies of the brain. If you are interested in this up-and-coming field as a possible career field or major, check out the cognitive science and linguistics department web site, and speak with a professor who teaches cognitive science. And in the meantime, good luck with those pre-Thanksgiving midterms.
More and more women are making their impact in the fields of science, math, and engineering. From administration, to lab research, to academia, these women are making a difference every day and accomplishing what at a time seemed impossible. Potential role models can be found in the pages of newspapers and scientific journals, and more often we're seeing the names of women. Below are two recent news articles compiled and edited for print in the WISP newsletter by Surabhi Gaur.
Princeton University on Saturday named its first female president, an internationally renowned molecular biologist who has been on the university's faculty since 1986.
Shirley M. Caldwell Tilghman will become Princeton's 19th president on June 15. She joins a small but growing number of women who head Ivy League institutions, including Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania, and Ruth J. Simmons, who will become president of Brown University on July 1.
"I think of Princeton as my home," Ms. Tilghman said. "I can't think of a better way to spend the last part of my professional life than helping give back to Princeton what it has given to me."
Ms. Tilghman got her bachelor's degree from Queens University at Kingston, in Ontario, and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University. Since 1988, she headed Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. She was on the presidential search committee that was formed last fall after the university's current president, Harold T. Shapiro, announced he would step down in June after 13 years on the job.
| Robert H. Rawson, chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee, said he realizes that some people might see the appointment as a bold move for the university since Ms. Tilghman bucks some Princeton presidential trends: She's female, she does not have a degree from the university, and she does not have any senior administrative experience. The first was the most significant: Princeton was among the last Ivy League universities to admit women when it did so in 1969. | "Some people might see the appointment as a bold move for the university since Ms. Tilghman bucks some Princeton presidential trends: She's female, she does not have a degree from the university, and she does not have any senior administrative experience." |
Of Ms. Tilghman's selection, Mr. Rawson said, "She was head and shoulders above the pack."
Ms. Tilghman sparked some controversy several years ago when she wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times asserting that the tenure-review process puts women at a disadvantage because it often comes up during female professors' child-bearing years.
"I really just intended to broadly talk about the challenges to increasing the participation of women in the sciences," Ms. Tilghman said. "What I learned from the reactions I got from that is that there's a way to be deliberately provocative that contributes to the message and there are ways that hurt the message."
Ms. Tilghman has served on a number of panels on ethics in molecular biology, including stem-cell research, and she was a researcher on the Human Genome Project.
"She is truly an eminent scholar," said Mark Johnston, chairman of Princeton's sociology department and a member of the search committee. "But one of the things that really impressed us was that we found a consistent theme of service both within and outside of the Princeton community."
Akron, Ohio, April 25, 2001 ‹ The Margaret F. Donovan Chair for Women in Engineering was established at The University of Akron through a $1 million gift from Margaret Donovan. University Board of Trustees today approved the creation of the chair, which is believed to be the first in the U.S. designed to enhance and promote female leadership in engineering.
| "We need more leaders in our colleges and universities who will actively work to bring both younger and older women into this profession." | "Women have come a long way in such areas as business, law and many science disciplines, but not as much progress has been made in the male bastion that is engineering," says Donovan. "More women need to enter this field, and it's not enough to have women who are 'examples.' We need more leaders in our colleges and universities who will actively work to bring both younger and older women into this profession." |
Despite the excellent job outlook, female representation in the profession and college programs is far below expectations. Department of Labor statistics show that female engineers make up only about 10 percent of the current U.S. engineering workforce. Of the 57 full-time faculty in UA's College of Engineering, only seven are women.
| "I want this to be much more than a gesture. I want this gift to have an impact nationally, and the way to do that is by obtaining results initially on the local level," Donovan says. "The University of Akron already has a good Women In Engineering Program (WIEP), their College of Engineering has a strong reputation, and tuition is very reasonable. "But like many other engineering colleges, Akron needs more women professors and it especially needs women in leadership positions in the college." Criteria for the Donovan chair are currently being developed. | "I want this to be much more than a gesture. I want this gift to have an impact nationally, and the way to do that is by obtaining results initially on the local level." |
Donovan herself is an alumna of Montclair State University in New Jersey (Bs.Ed, '63). Her late husband, Robert E. Donovan, has a bachelor's degree from West Point and a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1987-1990 he served as an executive of Babcock & Wilcox. This is actually Donovan's second gift to the University of Akron. In 1996 she established the Robert E. Donovan Scholarship Fund in memory of her husband who, along with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 33 other U.S. business leaders, died in a plane crash over Croatia on April 3, 1996.
Donovan recently learned that her first grandchild is expected this year. She said "If it's a girl, I would encourage her to become an engineer, to attend The University of Akron, and who knows, maybe someday she'll be a department head or hold the Donovan chair there."
University of Akron News: http://www.uakron.edu/webteam/displaynews.phtml?id=20010427047420
Emily Schaller '02, who has been involved with WISP since her days as a first year student, recently earned a prestigious 2002 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, which will allow her to study planetary sciences at the California Institute of Technology. Check out the VOX of Dartmouth article at http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Enews/releases/apr02/schaller-nsf.shtml and the WISP Newsletter interview below.
DISCOVERING SCIENCE FOR YOURSELF
When and how did you first get interested in science?
I had some great science teachers in high school who got me excited about science.EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND - THE COLLEGE YEARS
What is your major?
Double Major Physics and Earth Science
How did you decide what to focus on?
I started out college thinking I was going to be a physics/astronomy major and took the introductory Physics 15, 16, and 17 sequence. Then my freshman spring I took Earth Science 1 as a 3rd course and realized that what I liked most about physics was applying it to the earth, and what I liked most about astronomy was learning about the other planets in our solar system. I realized that there was a field for me planetary geology - that combined everything. Though Dartmouth doesn't have a major in this, I felt by double majoring I could come as close as I could and give myself a broad background to apply to graduate programs in that field.
What science-related activities did you participate in, if any? Were they important and why? Did they make science intriguing or generate ideas for continuing on in the sciences?
All of the research experiences I had really helped to put my courses into perspective.I did a WISP internship my first year in the astronomy department with Professor Gary Wegner.
| Then I did another WISP internship in the Earth Science department my sophomore year with Dr. Susan Taylor of CRREL imaging micrometeorites with a Scanning Electron Microscope. I was able to keep working with her through my junior year with the help of funding from the NH NASA Space Grant. Junior fall, I went on the Earth Science FSP. During my junior year, I did a Presidential Scholar Research Assistantship in the Earth Science department with Professor Leslie Sonder. I also did an independent project | I realized that a lot of people have trouble with intro courses. I also realized that after I didn't give up on that course freshman fall that I could get through any course as long as I worked hard enough. |
The summer between junior and senior year I got an internship at NASA Ames Research Center. This was an amazing experience! I analyzed data from the 1999 Leonid Meteor Shower. I looked for signatures of organic molecules in the spectral trails of the meteors. My involvement that summer led my boss to invite me to come along on the 2001 Leonid Aircraft Campaign. On the night of November 17, 2001, I was aboard a KC-135 operating a spectrograph at 40,000 ft. We flew out of Edwards Air Force Base and were airborne for 9 continuous hours. On the plane were 20 scientists each with their own instruments and eight Air Force pilots in charge of flying the plane. All but two of these people were at least 20 years older than I was and all but one was male. It was pretty intimidating at first but everyone ended up being really nice. I still keep in touch with a lot of the scientists I met on the plane. This year, I will complete a senior honors thesis in the Earth Science department. My advisors are Leslie Sonder and Mukul Sharma and the title of my thesis is "Implications of Rotational Bursting on Cosmic He3 flux."
THE NEXT STEPS (OR, YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GET A JOB AFTER COLLEGE?)
During college, have you had an idea of what you want to do after graduation?
I want to work for NASA or one of its main contractors. I do have aspirations of becoming an astronaut but I would also be very interested in being part of the teams of people who analyze data coming back from unmanned interplanetary probes.
How did you decide to apply for the NSF fellowship? What will you be doing?
| Go up to professors whose research you think is interesting and ask to work with them! Most departments have some random high-level course called "independent research." So you can get credit for doing work for them, or oftentimes they might have a way to fund you so you can work for them as your job. One of the most important things when you are applying to grad school in sciences is the research you have done. | Quite honestly, I applied for it because I saw it listed in the WISP newsletter! It looked like a pretty good deal and then I asked my advisor, Leslie Sonder about it and she recommended I apply. An NSF fellowship pays your tuition and gives you a stipend each year for three years of graduate school leading to a Ph.D. I will be attending Caltech. It is similar to the benefits you would receive as a Graduate Research Assistant or a Teaching Assistant, but the difference is that with an NSF fellowship, you aren't bound to any one professor - you are a free agent and can pursue the research that interests you. You also don't have to TA every term. |
Where do you expect and hope that this work may take you?
I expect to get a Ph.D. in planetary science from Caltech. I then hope to apply for jobs working for NASA.
FINDING A BALANCE OF PRIORITIES AND INTERESTS
How have you dealt with balancing work and extracurricular activities?
I have been co-captain of the figure skating team since sophomore year. Both skating and schoolwork take up a lot of time. But I think having the two things which are totally different keeps me sane.
HELPFUL RESOURCES ALONG THE WAY
Did you have any mentors that encouraged you or any individuals that discouraged you? If so, please describe the relationship and how it influenced your career path.
I had some wonderful professors - especially Leslie Sonder, who always encouraged me to take on things I might not have thought I was capable of and helped me during the process of applying to grad schools.
How did you find out about various jobs/internships?
Internet searches, career services internship listing.
TENDING TO YOUR EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING
Did you ever doubt your capabilities and/or knowledge in your major/career?
YES! Freshman fall in physics. I thought there was no hope for me ever getting through it! I thought I wasn't smart enough to go into science.
How did you overcome those self-doubts?
I realized that a lot of people have trouble with intro courses. I also realized that after I didn't give up on that course freshman fall that I could get through any course as long as I worked hard enough.LESSONS LEARNED
If you could change anything about your college career, what would it be and why?
I wouldn't have taken one specific course that I took early in my time at Dartmouth just
| because it fulfilled a distrib that I didn't think I could get any other way. Never take a course you have absolutely no interest in! | Never take a course you have absolutely no interest in! |
What advice do you have for current students who may be interested in the sciences?
Go up to professors whose research you think is interesting and ask to work with them! Most departments have some random high-level course called "independent research." So you can get credit for doing work for them, or oftentimes they might have a way to fund you so you can work for them as your job. One of the most important things when you are applying to grad school in sciences is the research you have done.