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(02/15/18 1:55am)
At the end of J-term, BiHall’s Great Hall was transformed for a day into a gallery housing an art show that brought together science, feminism and art. Co-organizers Mikayla Hyman ’20 and Mika Morton ’19 set up an open square of large display boards and invited students to peruse the art pieces, which ranged from paintings to collages to poetry.
“We’re in BiHall because we wanted to engage with the space where science majors are,” Hyman said. “The point of this is to really engage in conversation and raise awareness about the importance of feminist science.”
One of the most prominent pieces in the exhibit was a painting of a naked female body, designed to appear as if from the perspective of a woman looking down at herself. When the viewer looks at the painting, it was as if he or she was looking down at his or her own breasts and bulging stomach.
“A lot of the guys who have come to the exhibit haven’t recognized what the painting is of” Morton said. “I think they’re just not used to looking at a female body from that perspective.”
Hyman and Morton were inspired to organize the art show by an assignment in their organic chemistry class. The assignment was to pick a chemical compound and present it to the class in some creative way. A classmate created a watercolor painting of a molecule as a female form. Both Hyman and Morton were struck by the beauty of the painting, as well as the blend of disciplines.
By bringing science and feminism together in an art show, Morton and Hyman hoped to start conversations and to show viewers how much either discipline could benefit from the other.
“Feminism is about taking the time to understand, respect and value other points of view, especially underrepresented ones,” Hyman said. “Science is all about learning new information through a rigorous and highly reliable process. I think that when trying to learn new things, more perspectives contributing to an answer can only lead to a more universally correct truth. Feminist science is responsible science.”
“Feminism is important when you’re doing your science and thinking about how you phrase your questions, who your research team is, and whom you are researching,” Morton said.
Gender bias plays a huge role in how we think about and conduct science. It affects the language we use – Morton recalls a freshman year biology textbook that referred to sperm as “stripped down speedsters,” whereas eggs were described as passive support systems. It affects how we approach diseases – considered a disease of men, Coronary Heart Disease has been understudied, underdiagnosed, and undertreated in women even though the mortality rate is greater for women than for men. And it affects how we conduct experiments.
In biomedical research and preclinical trials, researchers use animals for their experiments. These animals, however, are overwhelmingly male. A University of California, Berkeley analysis of published research found gender bias in eight out of ten scientific disciplines.
The biggest offender was neuroscience, which had 5.5 single-sex studies of male animals for every 1 single-sex study of female animals. Traditionally scientists have used male animals over female animals to avoid complications from variability due to reproductive cycles and hormonal fluctuations. There is, however, research indicating that variability is not significantly greater in females as compared to males.
Some scientists believe that findings in males can be generalized to females. Sex differences, however, have real effects. For example, researchers have demonstrated that female rodents process pain through different immune cells than male rodents. This may affect how women versus men respond to pain medication.
Using male animals has meant that when drugs hit the market searchers know much more about the drug’s effect on men than on women.
(01/24/18 11:09pm)
On Wednesday nights in the Scott Center, Daniel Morris ’20 makes tea and leads students through a workshop exploring the psychological, philosophical, scientific and spiritual aspects of sleep, dreaming and lucidity. For Morris, sleep and dreaming are not a mere idle fascination, but a long held passion. As a middle school student, Morris happened to pickup a book exploring sleep and dreams. The book sparked an interest that has not wavered since. Over the years, Morris has read countless books and scientific articles on the subject and made dream journaling, reality checks and meditation part of his daily routine.
As a neuroscience major and religion minor, Morris has found that sleep and dreaming are interesting bridges between the two subjects.
“Buddhism questions the existence of a self and questions what is real and permanent,” he said.
Dreaming also raises questions about what is real. Examining sleep and dreaming through both a neuroscientific and religious lens provides an interdisciplinary perspective.
“I’m interested in looking at dreaming as a reflection on waking life and how your relationship to your waking life appears in your dreams,” Morris said.
Toni Cross ’18, a student in the workshop, said she has learned more about how sleep patterns and dreams vary from person to person.
“The first night we went around and gave a little introduction,” Cross said. “I didn’t realize there is so much variation in people’s sleep patterns and dreams. Some people lucid dream every night. Some people had never lucid dreamed and wanted to. In a lot of my dreams, I’m not in them; I’m living out the dream as someone else. The other students were shocked by this.”
In order to increase awareness of dreaming, called lucid dreaming, Morris has taught the students to make reality checks.
Dreams can appear very real, so there are a few simple techniques to test “am I dreaming?” Morris tells his peers to look at text or a clock, then look away and will it to change, then look back to see if the text morphs or the time switches. You can also cover your nostrils and try breathing in. If you can breathe in, you’re dreaming. In the 30 minutes Morris and I were sitting in Crossroads talking about his workshop, he told me he had conducted several reality checks.
Another technique for improving sleep and increasing chances of a lucid dream is dream journaling. Before bed, Morris recommends writing down the time you go to bed and any events from the day to help clear your mind. He also suggests writing down something you have improved on related to sleep, dreaming and lucidity. In the morning, you write down the time you woke up and any dreams you can remember.
A third technique, called Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dream (MILD), is one of the most effective induction techniques. MILD can be used right after waking up from a dream or right before bed. First, you recall a recent dream, visualize yourself in it and notice its bizarre aspects. Next, you imagine yourself becoming lucid in the dream and then visualize the details of your experience in a lucid dream. By repeating these steps over and over in your head before falling asleep, you increase the likelihood that you will become aware of your dreams.
So what exactly does one do when in a lucid dream? Well, anything. Morris recommends doing something that engages with one of your senses.
“Eating is really cool and singing is really cool in lucid dreams,” he said. “Dreams can have a quality of synesthesia and everything feels extra real, more vivid, more present.”
For his third workshop, Morris plans to draw on his background as a neuroscience major to discuss the brain chemistry behind sleeping and dreaming. He will talk about supplements that help strengthen sleep like 5-HTP, a supplement that helps with deep sleep by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. He will also cover the natural supplement galantamine, which can be used to promote lucid dreaming. At higher dosages, galantamine is used to treat Alzheimer’s because its ability to increase acetylcholine levels is useful for memory.
The workshop has also explored dream analysis. Participants sent Morris their dreams and then the workshop discussed their possible meanings.
“[It’s] an environment where you can talk about what you’ve dreamt about without people interrupting,” Cross said. “Just talking about dreams and sleep made me remember things I had repressed from my childhood – like out of body experiences where I wasn’t sure if I was awake or sleeping.” Since beginning the workshop, Cross has started implementing the reality checks Morris introduced.
Morris hopes that participants walk away from his workshop with a better understanding of sleeping and dreaming and a desire to explore both further.
“My growth in waking life has always been mirrored by my growth in sleeping life,” Morris said. He hopes his workshop participants can find this, too. He is also thinking about continuing the workshop into the spring semester. Looking even further down the road, Morris is considering combining his passion for neuroscience, sleep and dreaming by pursuing graduate school for neuroscience and sleep research.
(01/17/18 10:35pm)
Visiting Professor and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Julie Merkle from Princeton University is offering a class this winter term on the potential of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Over the course of four weeks, students in Professor Merkle’s class will explore basic stem cell biology, cell differentiation, gene editing and regenerative medicine. The class will also discuss policies regulating stem cell research and the creative ways scientists have found to circumvent these.
“I hope,” Merkle said in an interview, “that the students come away with an appreciation for the research that has brought us to the point of the exciting advancements we have made in the stem cell world and with an excitement for the potential therapeutics in medicine. I hope they also learn a bit about the bioethics surrounding stem cells.”
Merkle’s own research at Princeton utilizes a specialized type of stem cell, known as germline stem cells, to examine the mechanisms involved in cell division because of the implications defects in this division can have for human diseases such as cancer. Cancer, for example, is caused by the continued, unregulated division of cells. Merkle, therefore, examines the genetic mutations that produce defects in this division process to better understand what can go wrong.
Germline stem cells produce gametes, which are the reproductive cells known as eggs and sperm. In order for the germline stem cells to produce gametes, they must undergo a process of cell division known as meiosis. During meiosis, the chromosomes exchange genetic material through a process called crossing-over. This creates genetic diversity. Essentially, two chromosomes pair-up and then each chromosome breaks off a small section and swaps that section with the other chromosome, so that each chromosome ends up with a small portion of the other chromosome’s DNA.
Because it induces and repairs double-strand breaks in the chromosomes, the crossing-over process involves many of the DNA damage and repair proteins that are needed in all cells of an organism to repair mistakes, called mutations.
“These proteins are a typical part of cell division, including mitosis, and act as checkpoints that prevent ‘genetic instability,’” Merkle said.
Mitosis, like meiosis, is a process of cell division used to create new cells. If properly working, the checkpoints Merkle speaks of should either tell the cell to stop dividing and repair the DNA damage or should recognize a problem and instruct the cell to die. Failure of these checkpoints leads to “genetic instability,” which is the continuation of cell division that causes cancer.
“By learning more about DNA double-strand break formation and repair,” Merkle said, “hopefully that will shed some light on the mechanisms causing cancer.”
She examines these questions by specifically looking at cell division for the production of reproductive cells in Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly.
“The fruit fly makes a good model organism because 75% of the disease-causing genes found in humans are conserved in flies and most of the time these genes are involved in the same cell processes in flies as in humans,” Merkle said. What’s more, flies are cheap, have a short life cycle and their genetics are somewhat simple.
In lab, Merkle induces mutations in female flies to create sterile female flies that are unable to produce eggs. Since making an egg involves cell division, or meiosis, one of the defects produced by mutation may affect this process. After inducing these mutations, Merkle sequences the genome and looks for the mutation within the sequence to determine what gene the mutation is in and whether the gene is also found in other organisms. Merkle studies the mutations of about 20 different genes.
One of the genes Merkle works with has been found to be highly mutated in patients with colorectal cancer. Eventually, after performing many different experiments, Merkle and her lab found that the gene is involved in repairing DNA double-strand breaks. Mutation in this gene causes defective repair of DNA, which triggers the checkpoint to recognize a problem and tell the cell to die. Therefore, no egg is produced and the fly is sterile. Cancer, however, is caused when this checkpoint fails to recognize the problem and the cell continues to divide.
“It’s very exciting to find a gene that is linked to humans and to realize you’re able to discover something no one else has studied,” Merkle said. By identifying this gene and its function, researchers may be able to address cancer-causing defects.
“I really hope the information we gain by studying flies could help diagnose and treat patients with colorectal cancer,” she added. “In the future, I hope to take what we learn about in flies and apply it to research in human cell lines.”
For the month of January, students in Merkle’s class will benefit from Merkle’s experience in the stem cell field through discussions on stem cells and their therapeutic potential.
“Julie is teaching us basic science research skills like reading a paper, while also helping us use critical analysis to discuss the papers,” Samantha Gaines ’18 said. “This could be helpful in later jobs and future classes.”
(11/16/17 12:29am)
Professor Mike Dash of the psychology department explores the question, how does the brain generate our consciousness? He studies this difficult concept by examining learning and memory in rats, observing how the coordinated activities of groups of neurons affect cognition and the brain.
“As these groups of neurons come together and coordinate activity,” Dash asked, “how does this help support functions we’re interested in and how does this support the brain itself?”
The field of neuroscience research mostly focuses on two broad areas at either end of consciousness. There are cellular/molecular neuroscientists, who explore the details behind the individual mechanisms responsible for the communication of neurons. There are also systems neuroscientists, who draw larger conclusions about function in various brain areas. Dash considers himself between these two areas.
“There are comparably fewer individuals who sit in that middle ground and in order to link the cellular/molecular mechanisms with the systems,” Dash said. “We have to look at the coordination of the activity of the neurons.”
This year, Dash’s lab includes four seniors pursuing two different projects to study this coordinated neuronal activity. Stella Lentzou ’18 and Josh Goldenberg ’18 are working on a project about how competing neurons communicate so that when there are several valid responses available, one response wins out.
Kisha Kalra ’18 and Deniz Bingul ’18 are studying how inducing learning through long-term potentiation (LTP) affects metabolic energy changes in the brain.
LTP is the strengthening of synapses, the communication site between two different neurons, that occurs following the use of the synapse. Strengthening the connections of some synapses and not others will bias which groups of neuronal connections form.
Lentzou and Goldenberg’s project builds on the findings of a previous lab group that observed two different strategies adopted by rats to learn where to find food in a T-maze. Food was consistently placed in one arm of the maze (e.g. the left arm) and the rats adopted either a place strategy or a body strategy.
Some rats learned to follow certain external cues, such as posters on the wall, in order to reach the food, a place strategy. Other rats learned to turn their bodies to the left to find the food, a body strategy.
Although the rats all came from the same strain, meaning they are genetically identical, 50% adopted the place strategy and 50% adopted the body strategy. Lentzou and Goldenberg seek to address why these seemingly identical rats become biased towards one strategy over the other.
Existing literature on the subject indicates that the hippocampus is responsible for place strategy, while the dorsal striatum is responsible for body strategy. To examine what is happening in the brain, Lentzou and Goldenberg record the electromagnetic activity of groups of neurons in these two areas, plus the prefrontal cortex, before, during, and after maze learning.
As the team begins to analyze the data, Lentzou said they are looking for answers to questions such as, “Is there a correlation between brain activity before and after maze exposure? Is one area more active than the other? Is there any kind of synchronous activity? For example, if we see that the hippocampus and dorsal striatum have synchronous activity, it means that they’re talking to each other.”
“How might this brain activity produce cognition and are the rats conscious of their actions in the maze?” Lentzou asked, indicating this as the central question of their research.
On the other hand, Kalra’s and Bingul’s project asks what sort of metabolic demand the strengthening of synaptic connections imposes on the brain.
“We know the brain is incredibly greedy,” Dash said. “The brain is two percent of our body mass, but it uses 20 percent of our energy supply. Neuronal activity is the major driver of energy consumption within the brain.”
By inducing learning through a brief electrical stimulation, Kalra and Bingul can measure the strength of the synaptic connections before, during and after learning. Simultaneously, they are able to record the concentrations of glucose, oxygen, and lactate in these connections.
“Lactate is a byproduct of glycolysis and our hypothesis is that the brain increasingly relies on glycolysis, [the breakdown of glucose to provide energy for the brain], when under energetic strain,” Kalra said.
“Is learning like running a marathon for the brain?” Dash asked, putting the question in less technical terms.
By measuring the concentrations of glucose, oxygen and lactate, the lab can explore how does availability of glucose, used for energy, changes as a consequence of strengthened synapses. The researchers also gained insight into how the energy needs of stimulation cause the brain to compensate.
Answers to these challenging questions do not come easily or quickly. The students often spend hours in lab. Handling the demands of lab and their own class work and extracurricular activities is a true balancing act. Nonetheless, it is an experience the students describe as very rewarding.
Kalra remembered first entering the lab and thinking, “how will I ever be able to do any of this?”
Now, she finds herself getting excited over lactate levels that were previously meaningless to her. Lentzou has also enjoyed being involved with every step of the lab process, which allows her to understand all the components of the experiments.
“The Dash lab helped me realize that I want to make it my life purpose to answer the questions I have about how the brain works,” said Lentzou. “I am applying for a PhD program in this area to gain the tools I need to answer those questions.”
(10/04/17 11:43pm)
Lesley-Ann Giddings, a professor in the biology department, launched a new research project this August that combines her interest in extremophiles, organisms thriving in extreme environments, with a local focus on Vermont’s abandoned copper mines.
Giddings describes the research as an investigation of “how seasonal changes affect microbial populations, in acid mine drainage environments in Vermont, as well as new genes that could be useful in the bioremediation of these low-pH environments.”
Prior to 1846, Vermont was a major source of copper production. Vermont’s three copper mines Ely, Elizabeth, and Pike Hill yielded 150 million pounds of copper. These copper deposits were formed by concentrated metal sulfides, the result of magma flowing between earth’s plates.
Today, these metal sulfides have been left exposed to the elements. Water and oxygen flowing over the deposits oxidize the metal sulfides, generating sulfuric acid. This acid is then capable of dissolving other harmful metals from the surrounding rocks, contaminating the water, causing significant damage to the ecosystem, and threatening public health.
All three mines are Environmental Protection Agency designated Superfund sites, meaning the sites have been identified as national priorities for cleanup because their hazardous waste contamination poses human and environmental health risks.
For a natural products chemist such as Giddings, this sort of extreme environment also opens up a world of possibility.
“These extreme environments have strange resources available to microbes and the microbes can metabolize the resources and create new compounds that help them adapt to that environment,” Giddings said.
She is interested in what important functions are present in these microbes that have allowed them to adapt to and survive within this environment.
In order to better understand these microbial functions, Giddings is conducting a comparative study by taking samples in January and July to look at “seasonal differences in the acid mine drainage microbial community, as well as the metabolic pathways that are selectively upregulated in different seasons,” she explains.
The changes in temperature, conductivity, and pH produce different metabolic activities that may answer questions about how this microbial community changes and why. Analyzing these differences will have two major components. Firstly, Giddings will sequence DNA in acid mine drainage to identify seasonal changes in microbes and gene expression. Secondly, she will culture microbes to determine the molecules individual microbes are making under conditions that mimic their native environment.
The cultures will also indicate how the microbe metabolic profiles change between winter and summer months.
Currently, the government is tackling acid mine drainage problems by capping the exposed metal sulfides so that they cannot become oxidized and produce acid. This type of solution could cause long-term stewardship issues such as maintaining the cap and preventing trespassing. Furthermore, a 2017 Vermont Legislature testimony estimates total project costs for remediation of the Elizabeth Mine to be $11 million and total costs for the Ely Mine to be $26 million.
What is really needed is a way of filtering out these toxic metals that have polluted the streams at these mine sites. Giddings points out that the microbes present at these sites are already interacting with the metal and so she asks, “why not learn about how the microbes are interacting with the metals to see if we can find a more cost effective way of cleaning up these sites?”
Through identifying genes, Giddings hopes to answer questions such as how microbes traffic metals — Do they bind specifically to metals and sequester the metals? Have they evolved mechanisms to pump metals out of cells? Through this gene research and a better understanding of the metabolic pathways of the microbes, perhaps a more efficient solution could be created for the bioremediation of acid mine drainage sites.
Giddings’ biochemical approach to a major environmental issue has a lot of exciting potential for the future.
As she articulates, “there may be a silver lining found in microbial adaptation to polluted environments.”
(09/21/17 12:14am)
This summer, Dr. Grace Spatafora, professor of biology department, was awarded a $2.1 million National Institutes of Health grant for her research on the oral bacterium, Streptococcus mutans. The grant makes her one of only 13 faculty members at small liberal arts colleges nationwide to receive an NIH research project grant, known as an RO1 grant. The majority are awarded to large research-intensive universities.
Streptococcus mutans is a bacterium that lives in the oral cavity, where it is the primary cause of dental cavities. Although S. mutans can promote cavities as well as contribute to the progression of periodontal disease, it is a natural part of our oral microbiome and is just as vital to our health as our gut microbiome.
Oral health is generally considered the gateway to overall health; a diseased mouth can have dire consequences for the rest of the body.
“The condition of one’s mouth says a lot about where that person is on the socioeconomic scale and what kind of overall health they’re in. If we can improve access to oral health and hygiene practices for all, then we can improve general health and lessen the gap between the haves and the haves-not,” Spatafora said.
S. mutans adheres to teeth and metabolizes carbohydrates consumed in the diet via the process of fermentation. Acid, a product of fermentation, drills holes in teeth, marking the onset of tooth decay. There is, however, a difference between healthy plaque and diseased plaque.
Spatafora describes her research as “centered on the genetic mechanisms that help maintain healthy plaque, and which involves a delicate balance between healthy microbes and disease-causing microbes.”
Maintaining the healthy plaque requires multiple factors including healthy diet and good oral hygiene. The high sugar content of the Western diet, however, provides S. mutans with an abundance of nutrients that get converted to acid. This acid production lowers the pH in the mouth, tipping the balance in favor of diseased plaque with a prevalence of acid-producing and acid-tolerant microbes.
To understand how we might be able to control this delicate homeostasis, Spatafora’s lab is examining SloR, a protein in S. mutans that is responsible for the regulation of metal ion transport. “By restricting access of S. mutans to essential metals, such as manganese and iron, [SloR] receives neither too many micronutrients nor too few, keeping its prevalence in the mouth in check.”
For example, when we eat, our food introduces large amounts of manganese and iron into the mouth, in addition to sugar. S. mutans can absorb these metal ions through membrane-associated transporters, thereby allowing SloR to interact with the ions. The interaction permits SloR to bind to DNA and repress an excess of metal ion uptake, which could otherwise be toxic for the S. mutans. At the same time, SloR-metal ion complexes modulate the damaging characteristics of S. mutans, such as its ability to adhere to teeth, produce acid, and resist the negative effects of acid and oxidative stress.
“By manipulating SloR-metal ion complexes and their interaction with DNA, we can also manipulate the disease-causing potential of S. mutans,” Spatafora said.
Ultimately, Spatafora hopes to “develop a therapeutic intervention that will target SloR so that S. mutans-induced cavities can be alleviated or prevented altogether.”
Spatafora first started working on S mutans in 1989 after pursuing her interest in infectious diseases and microbial pathogenesis in Dr. Roy Curtiss’ laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis. There, Curtiss introduced her to S. mutans, a bacterium that not many people were working with at the time. She was drawn to the microorganism because of the opportunities it provided for experimental manipulation and the ability to work on this project with a small group of graduate students and highly trained post-docs.
Now, Spatafora offers incredible research opportunities to Middlebury students such as Annie Cowan ’18.
“Professor Spatafora wants you to lead your own project and so you end on the same level in terms of knowing where the project is going and what to do in terms of moving forward. I think the most rewarding part is identifying where your mistake is yourself and then figuring out how to fix it,” said Cowan of her time working in Spatafora’s lab.
Cowan has been working on a project verifying a region of DNA that could promote synthesis of SloR. The region was identified last year by Patrick Monette ’17, who is currently preparing a manuscript about the findings, in hopes of being published.
Another of Spatafora’s lab students, Sunho Park ’18 (known as the lab clown), has been conducting experiments to find protein binding partners of SloR.
Park says, “Once we know what other proteins it binds to, then maybe we can investigate the binding partners, which would allow us to learn more about SloR indirectly from a different angle,” Park said.
Hopefully, this could one day allow us to utilize SloR to maintain the homeostasis of our mouths and lead to preventing cavities.
Thanks to the five-year National Institutes of Health grant, students of the college will continue to receive funding for these extraordinary research opportunities through 2022.
(02/24/16 4:58pm)
On Feb. 5, Don Kjelleren resigned as Director of Professional and Career Development for the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI). He ended his 17 years at the College to become the Director of the Williams College Career Center.
Kjelleren will be replaced by Ursula Olender, Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Career Center at Amherst College, who will start on March 21. She has further experience as the Director of Career Services at Colgate University and the Associate Director of Career Services at Dartmouth College. In the interim, students looking for advising in finance, consulting and business can schedule appointments with Susan Walker, associate director at the CCI.
While at Middlebury, Kjelleren specialized in guiding students interested in finance, consulting and business. Sarah Sicular ’16, a peer career advisor in the CCI, said, “So many students come in for finance and he had a huge personal network and always had all of the interests of his students at heart. I think a lot of students are really missing out that they don’t get to have Don as their advisor. He helped build up the Middlebury pipeline to careers in finance.”
During his career at the College, Kjelleren built up a large web of connections by networking with alumni, parents and companies visiting campus. Peggy Burns, Director of the CCI, reassures students that Ursula will be coming with that exact same network from her previous work, particularly at Colgate and Amherst. “We could not have asked for a more seamless transition,” she said.
Besides spending time advising students, Kjelleren trains as a triathlete with world ranking. He also has enjoyed biking to work on warm summer days and swimming in the freezing cold of Lake Champlain.
About her colleague Burns said, “It was fun having someone in the office with this incredible athletic prowess and experience with extreme sports. He has a good sense of humor and he cared very much about the staff and the students.”
Although Kjelleren says he will miss those bike rides, his colleagues and the students, he very much looks forward to in his new job. He is excited for the challenge of a tremendous growth opportunity. He said, “The culture and feel of the Williams Career Center is very different than Middlebury’s, in part because the Center is housed in College Advancement and so there are about 90 professional staff running around at high speed doing great things.”
While Kjelleren’s colleagues are certainly sad to lose him to Williams, they are excited about the great opportunity ahead of him. Furthermore, he leaves an excellent finance and consulting program behind him, which according to Burns is a strong foundation that the CCI expects to build upon in the future.
Burns believes this foundation will only benefit from the new perspective Olender brings.
“Ursula is coming from a campus that has a strong commitment to diversity and it is something she is particularly passionate about,” Burns said. “Her feet are firmly planted in the idea that these four years are a developmental process and she really wants to meet students where they are. She’s very committed to making the career exploration process a little less scary for students.”
Kjelleren leaves some parting words of advice, “Students, shift your focus from ‘What do you want to do?’ to ‘Who do you want to be?’ Be confident, dream big and don’t settle for less.”
(04/15/15 6:07pm)
Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile will be speaking at Middlebury on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in Mead Chapel. The event, titled “Political Outlook: Comprehensive Picture of What’s Going on in Washington,” will be free to attend and open to the public.
Brazile has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 to 2000. In 2000, she became the first African-American to manage a presidential campaign, serving as campaign manager to Al Gore.
Brazile is also an author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She comes to the College as the MCAB Speakers Committee’s spring speaker.
Head of the Speakers Committee Nick Orr ’15 explained the decision to bring Brazile to campus.
“When deciding on a speaker, we [kept] three questions in mind. What kind of voice would the campus like to hear? What’s relevant? What’s the budget? Donna Brazile fit all of these categories. She’s a very big personality and a good person to have as election season is approaching. We think the campus will really enjoy what she has to say,” he said.
With the recent announcements of presidential bids, Brazile comes at an appropriate time to answer some of the questions about the inner-workings of Washington. As former interim National Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute, she is very familiar with the election process and with Washington.
“I think she’ll provide a very high level view of what’s going on between Democrats and Republicans, and I hope she stays pretty even-keeled,” Orr said. “This is a fairly politicized campus, but when it comes to the nitty-gritty, I’m unsure what the students’ sense is. I hope she really gives us an idea of what it’s like to be there, in Washington. Hopefully, people attend and find it interesting.”
At the conclusion of Brazile’s visit, the talk will allow for audience questions. Orr spoke about some of the questions that he’d like to see addressed.
He said, “There’s a sense that Congress is no longer representing the people’s voices. If that’s a problem, how do we correct it? Where does Brazile see the Democratic party going?”
(02/18/15 9:17pm)
On Friday, Feb. 13, students enjoyed a day off classes to partake in the College’s 92nd annual Winter Carnival. Home to the oldest student-run carnival in the nation, the College hosts a variety of activities over the three-day weekend. Some professors, however, have begun to question the benefit of canceling Friday classes.
Even though these Friday classes are made up at the end of the semester, with an additional Monday of Friday schedule classes before finals begin, some professors wonder if it is really worth the inconvenience.
Students have traditionally been given Friday off so that they can cheer on fellow classmates competing in the Alpine and Nordic skiing competitions at the Snow Bowl and Rikert. Despite the intention of the free morning, there is some doubt as to whether students are using this time to attend the ski races.
Professor of Economics and Faculty Director of the Center for Social Entrepreneurship Jon Isham said, “We cancel classes because of long-standing traditions and I wonder if those traditions are still vibrant. We are canceling one morning’s worth of classes for Winter Carnival activities and I wonder how many students are actually doing those activities at that time. Are students really out there on the slopes? And even if they are, is this a good trade-off for our academic community?”
Olivia Allen ’15 has observed such a lack of student involvement in Friday’s activities.
“I love school free Fridays as much as the next person, but I think the activities provided on Fridays could benefit a wider range of people,” said Allen. “A lot of students end up working with professors or in the library even though they don’t have school.”
Isham along with Professor John Emerson, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Mathematics, expressed a dislike for the Monday of classes added at the end of term. Both would prefer to keep classes on the Friday of Winter Carnival in exchange for getting rid of classes on that Monday before finals.
On the effect of cancelled classes on his syllabus and course schedule, Emerson said, “In mathematics courses, it creates some problems. We have two Fridays with classes cancelled and we replace it with a lame duck Monday. It makes a difference in math because there is a body of material that is assumed to be covered. Losing a day or two days to the schedule just makes things more compressed and makes it a little bit more difficult for students.”
Both Isham and Emerson, however, also mentioned that not having classes isn’t a major deal to them as they simply delay content and make adjustments. Their real question is whether it’s really worth it.
Sayre Weir ’15 believes that there is value to canceling classes for Winter Carnival.
“The races are a fun atmosphere and it’s cool to see the campus really come together. Thursday night is the kickoff so having Friday morning classes would disrupt the flow of the Carnival,” Weir said.
She continued, “I think that having classes off on Friday encourages students to get involved and go up to the mountain because they have some extra time. It’s nice to have an extra day to recharge, especially since the first week is so chaotic.”
While Middlebury has kept many traditions alive, canceling Friday classes being just one of them, there are also many aspects surrounding this event that have changed over the years.
For example, the first Winter Carnivals were held on Chipman Hill and there were snowshoe and obstacle races held on Storrs Avenue. Footage from the 1940s shows “aero-skijoring” on Lake Champlain. Students would attach a rope to a small plane and pull a skier along behind at high speed, whipping across the lake.
Emerson remembers when ski jumping used to be held right outside the back windows of the Snow Bowl lodge.
“The University of Vermont always won the ski jump because they imported Norwegian skiers,” Emerson said. “A UVM skier set the all time ski jump record when he over jumped the hill. He stayed under control and stopped in time, but that was the last year that they had ski jumping.”
Emerson also pointed out that as technology has advanced, students have had less of a role to play in running winter carnival.
“Historically, the reason that we didn’t have classes on Friday was that every Friday morning students went up and packed the snow, helped run events; things are different now with electronics,” Emerson said.
Currently, no steps have been taken toward reinstating Friday classes. However, we may see changes to the Winter Carnival schedule in the future if professor opinion continues to grow in favor of holding classes.
(01/21/15 7:53pm)
President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz presented the Student Government Association (SGA) with $10,000 for student-hosted events in the Bunker at the beginning of Winter Term. The funding, which will come from Liebowitz’s discretionary fund, will be available for events throughout J-term and the spring semester.
Located in the basement of the Freeman International Center, the Bunker has served as a space for concerts and dance parties. However, the space was once home to a party scene frequently shut down by Public Safety.
“The funding is a good chance to reboot the space in a more positive light. I think the money that President Liebowitz has set aside shows that he has a commitment to opening up more space for social activities,” SGA President Taylor Custer ’15 said.
This latest step resulted from the forum to discuss social issues which Liebowitz held in November. One complaint raised at the forum was a lack of social options, culminating in a request for a party initiative fund for student use.
Liebowitz responded, “You got it. My commitment is there.”
Ilana Gratch ’16.5, Treasurer of the SGA, followed up on this commitment by meeting with Liebowitz and providing the main push for funding. Custer said the SGA felt that “allocating more money towards social life was a very good tangible thing to happen directly as a result of the social life forum.”
The new funding, which will be used to cover the security costs surrounding Bunker events, provides individual students or groups of students with the opportunity to create and host events. In order to receive funding, students must provide a rough idea of the number of attendees and an event schedule. All details must be submitted to the student activities office three weeks before the event.
As long as the request is both reasonable and appealing to other students, it will most likely be approved. David Kloepfer, Student Activities, Programs, and Events Manager, will oversee the Bunker and can help walk students through event planning.
Once the event receives approval, the hosts will receive this funding to cover security. The College typically hires an outside company, Green Mountain Security, for Bunker parties.
Green Mountain Security funnels the crowd in safely and ensures that the party keeps from getting out of hand. Their presence also helps decrease Public Safety’s involvement to only periodic check-ins.
Custer elaborated on the role that students will need to play going forward.
“I don’t think cost is the only or even main barrier to people throwing parties on campus,” Custer said.
“Everyone wants to be the person going to the party and not the person throwing the party. The funding will solve a small piece of that for students; it will lower the cost barrier. The whole student body needs to work on reducing the other barriers associated with throwing a party.”
In an effort to further encourage student involvement in the College’s social scene, the SGA just passed a new student insurance bill in which they pledge to pay 25% of the total damages to facilities used for registered parties. These payments will not exceed $400. There will also be a $5000 insurance fund set aside each academic year which can be made available to cover damages that exceed the $400 limit. This fund will be used at the discretion of an Appeals Committee. These financial supports are meant to decrease student concern, hopefully leading more students to host events.
Ultimately, it will be up to students in the next couple of months to determine how the Bunker funding is used. Whether or not these funds become a permanent fixture of the College’s social life environment will be up to both the next SGA President and recently appointed President-elect Laurie L. Patton.
(01/14/15 11:57pm)
Last week, Forbes released its third annual “30 under 30” list, highlighting young adults in different work fields. The list included three Middlebury alumni: Alexandra Cart ’08 and Emily Núñez Cavness ’12 were featured in the social entrepreneurs list, and Lisa Gretebeck ’10 was included in the healthcare list.
After graduating from Middlebury, Cart, Núñez Cavness and Greteback went on to found their own companies.
Greteback co-founded Pou Sante: Amar Haiti, which improves the health and productivity of the animals, thereby increasing the quality of life for families in Haiti.
Cart started Madeira Global, an impact-investing firm that generates financial returns by investing with companies providing social and environmental solutions. She was on campus in October as part of Middlebury’s Friday lecture series to provide students with her own insight about impact investing, the financial world and starting your own company.
Núñez Cavness started her company Sword & Plough at Middlebury with fellow graduates Cully Cavness ’09.5 and Haik Kavookjian ’09.5. Sword & Plough takes army surplus items and turns them into fashionable bags and accessories. The company provides manufacturing jobs to veterans for the construction of its products and donates 10% of the profits to veteran initiatives.
At a conference held by Middlebury College’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) during Núñez Cavness’ senior year, the keynote speaker introduced to Núñez Cavness the idea of companies recycling materials into products. As a result, Núñez Cavness — who was raised in a military family and trained as a cadet for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) while at the College — took inspiration from this and created Sword & Plough.
Soon after Núñez Cavness began brainstorming ideas for her company with the help of her sister, she entered into the CSE’s first business plan competition. Núñez Cavness earned the first place prize and was awarded a $3000 grant for her project.
Winning the competition was a confidence boost for Núñez Cavness. “It was so helpful to have this group of peers and professors who wanted to hear about my idea and who challenged me to develop it further,” Núñez Cavness said. “Mentors and professors like Jon Isham, Alan Hassenfeld, Liz Robinson, Susan Ross, Charlie MacCormack, Dave Donahue, MariAnn Osborne, Mike Kiernan and Heather Neuwirth all played a guiding role in Sword & Plough’s very first stages, and they continued tohelp me figure out my next steps for Sword & Plough after I graduated.” Isham, MacCormack and Ross all sit on Sword & Plough’s board of advisors.
After winning the CSE’s competition, Sword & Plough experienced tremendous success in other competitions. When Núñez Cavness and her team put the company on Kickstarter, a global crowd funding platform, their goal was to raise $20,000. They reached this goal in the first two hours. At the end of Sword & Plough’s month-long campaign, it had raised $312,161.
Núñez Cavness said, “[Sword & Plough] truly would not exist without Middlebury and especially the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship.”
Last week, Sword & Plough challenged current MiddCORE participants to design a new product for the company. Núñez Cavness said, “I was blown away by their work. We will definitely be implementing the winning team’s idea and we’re hoping to eventually implement all of the designs.”
Elizabeth Robinson, co-director of the CSE said, “It’s great to be able to reach out to these creative and innovative young alums and bring them back to talk to students.”
“A really unique and special thing about Middlebury is the incredible support we give to students who have new ideas they wish to pursue. There is such value in helping students apply what they have learned in the classroom to real world challenges,” she added,
Núñez Cavness offered some advice for students.
“Throughout the start of Sword & Plough, there were many moments when I was out of my comfort zone, and I initially wasn’t sure if I had the specific knowledge to do it. One of the most important actions our team took was to acknowledge these moments, encourage each other to dive in and learn as we go. Don’t be afraid to step into something that is way out of your comfort zone. When you hear a great idea from your classmates, go beyond telling them it’s a great idea. Challenge others about how they’re going to take the next step and make their idea a reality. And if you have an idea, don’t be afraid to share it,” she concluded.
(11/19/14 9:43pm)
On Saturday, Oct. 25, ten seniors were inducted into The College’s official chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest honor society, and it recognizes students for extraordinary academic achievement. Middlebury’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1868, making it the 13th oldest chapter in existence.
Seniors Taylor Custer, Leah Fessler, Jamie Lee, Kevin Liang, Xiner Liu, Michael Martini, Kristen Meredith, Katie Paradies, Kyle Slugg, and Danny Zhang were the first in their class to be inducted. The 10 inductees represent the top 2% of their graduating class.
Each inductee has a GPA above 3.9 and was selected by a board consisting of Middlebury faculty members who were themselves inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during their own college careers. 61 professors currently make up this selection board.
Members of the selection committee indicated that when choosing the inductees, GPA is considered foremost, but they also take into account other factors. For example, no one who is inducted can have an academic infraction on his or her record.
Professor Don Wyatt, a Phi Beta Kappa member, shared some of the other qualities the selection board looks for. “We’re greatly interested in students who have, of their own volition, taken the initiative to spread themselves across the curriculum. We’re interested in the breadth of our candidates for induction,” he said.
Only about 1% of students nationwide are inducted into the society. Fessler commented on this honor saying, “I was really proud to have all of the energy I’ve expended here towards academics recognized. I’ve never thought of myself as the top tier academically, and still don’t, but it’s an honor to be part of such a historically impressive society.”
Fessler emphasized the importance of a balanced lifestyle, developing relationships with professors, and including something creative in your schedule. Liang recommended getting lots of sleep, using office hours, making friends in your major, going out of your way to research something related to your major, and of course, studying a lot.
Meredith’s advice focused on not having any regrets. “I’m glad that I took the classes that I wanted to take and that I didn’t shy away from the classes or professors that people warn you against,” she said.
Looking down the road and into the future for these inductees, I asked Professor Wyatt how Phi Beta Kappa has affected his life since his induction. He said, “It has opened my mind to the possibilities of what I can accomplish as a professor and as a scholar. It has led me to believe that I can achieve more in those areas than I perhaps initially imagined.”
The inductees are only six months away from graduation and taking on the new challenges of jobs and graduate school. Moving forward, Liang says, “I’ll be proud of myself for now but not let it define me. I need to keep doing the work that I did to get here.”
(11/05/14 6:10pm)
YouPower, Middlebury College’s student-run spin classes, prides itself on its unique method of energy production, but because of high costs and low returns, the program is being forced to re-examine its mission.
YouPower was started two years ago as a way to make students more aware of their energy consumption. Two magnets attached to the front of the bike create a direct current that is then converted into an alternate current compatible with the electrical system.
Screens in-between the handlebars of the bikes allow students to track the number of kilowatts they have produced, while a poster reminds them of the energy used by everyday items like phones and computers.
However, the bikes are inefficient at producing energy. So far this semester the program has only produced about $3 worth of energy. The company from which YouPower bought the bikes, Green Revolution, also recently went out of business. Green Revolution provided maintenance for the bikes and has since stopped this service. Without maintenance, parts of the bikes have begun to break down, prompting the College to question the benefits of YouPower.
Although nothing has been decided yet, YouPower leadership and the administration have talked about several different courses of action. With Green Revolution out of business, YouPower needs to find a new way to maintain the bikes. Some of the solutions being explored include finding another company capable of maintaining the bikes or removing the parts of the bikes that collect energy – making them easier and cheaper to maintain.
YouPower, therefore, has two different paths ahead of it. One is to continue its environmental focus and the other is to concentrate more on the workout aspect.
Members of YouPower claim its educational benefits as well as its convenience for students. YouPower’s location on the opposite side of campus from the gym provides students with an alternative workout space. A back room in the Freeman International Center (FIC) is home to ten bikes, all equipped with a generator that converts students’ workouts into usable energy.
Forrest Carroll ’15 is a YouPower instructor and strongly supports finding a solution to maintaining the bikes without losing the energy component. He said, “This is the only tool that has students actually consider how they might be more responsible with their energy use. So in our theoretical analysis, we are saving the school a heck of a lot more than [about] $10 a semester. We are saving this school hundreds of dollars by improving energy practices and filling an academic shortfall.”
Sarah Fossett ’17, the treasurer of YouPower, sees YouPower’s mission going forward differently. “YouPower is about creating a safe place on campus for people to work out, where it’s not about how you look but having fun. Fitness can be a social stratifier on campus, but this is something that lots of different people can do together.”
Fossett believes that it’s most important to provide students with this comfortable, convenient workout space focused on supporting self-image and self-confidence. Ideally, the energy component of the bikes would be part of this, but the complications and costs of maintenance might necessitate getting rid of them.
Currently, plans are underway to enhance the spinning room and give it more of a professional, gym feel. In two weeks, the current carpeting in the room will be replaced with a gym floor.
The energy component of the bikes will be an ongoing discussion between YouPower and the administration in the coming weeks. While the energy component provides many educational benefits, the decision will also take into account the cost and what will best accommodate everyone on campus.
(10/01/14 10:24pm)
As the fall semester reaches its fourth week, progress is being made toward the approval of an intercultural center on campus that will provide resources for students of color, first-generation students, LGBTQ students, and others who have historically been underrepresented or marginalized in higher education. The proposal process, which began last spring, emerged from a response to student dialogue regarding the need for a space dedicated to student life.
“There was this gap of where do students go who want a place where they can talk through and digest what goes on for them,” said Debanjan Roychoudhury ’16, who has been heavily involved in the proposal for the center, “and who aren’t feeling that their identity is being taken into account in other spaces.”
While Middlebury offers spaces such as the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and the PALANA (Pan-African, Latino, Asian, and Native American) Academic Interest House, the intercultural center would provide a welcoming and comfortable area focused on combining student life and academics.
The system currently in place, as Clair Beltran ’16 says, “is too divided,” adding, “Since each center prioritizes one aspect of life, it’s hard to involve the whole person.” Planned to be built off of Carr Hall, the centralized location of the intercultural center would therefore make it accessible to all students and would provide a place to study, meet, and hang out.
Work on the proposal began after visits to Williams College, the University of Vermont and Connecticut College showed that these schools had intercultural centers of their own, unlike the College. Small groups of students and administrators met with representatives from the multicultural centers of each school to gather feedback on what was working for them and what was not.
Input from students also played a fundamental role in the drafting of the proposal. Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Affairs Shirley Collado began working on the proposal after meeting with students last year. Collado, along with Director of the Center for Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity Roberto Sagarena and Assistant Director of Student Activities Jennifer Herrera, said, “I think that this proposal really takes in many of the ideas we heard repeatedly and brings them together.”
Collado, who is currently serving her final term at the College, hopes to see the proposal approved by the end of October.
“It’s a major priority of mine while I’m here which is why I want to make sure that we move the process along and then Herrera and Sagarena, along with students, will take the lead.”
Sagarena, currently the director of CCSRE, will become the director of the intercultural center, if it is approved. When asked about the goals for the center, he said, “One of the things we would hope is that with a centralized location for support we would be better able to work in conjunction with other centers, share resources with them and contribute to work that they’re doing.”
This new center is all about collaboration, which is why it is being referred to as as an intercultural center rather than a multicultural center. The emphasis is on communication across races, ethnicities, and cultures — the center is one for every student.
Going forward, Collado believes that there is a good chance the proposal will be approved, as there is a lot of support for it in the administration. The spring semester, following approval of the center, will focus on preparing the space for the opening in fall 2015.
A group of students and faculty members will be assembled to determine in what ways the space can best be used to fulfill the goals set for the center. Student involvement and input will be highly encouraged throughout as the intercultural center begins to take shape.
Going forward, Roychoudhury said, “We need to have students onboard. It started with students and it needs to continue with students and it needs to always be about students.”