Far-reaching research

六月初，16岁的初中生Jaya Borgatta和化学教授Juan Navea一起旅行 前往西班牙瓦伦西亚参加威塞克斯空气污染研究所的年会， where she presented their published paper on the interactions and potential impacts 由悬浮在大气中的矿物液滴携带和浸出的铁. 这位化学专业的学生现在正在与人合作撰写她的第三篇论文，内容是火博体育燃煤排放的飞灰 power plants in India, Europe, and the US. "Every power plant has a specific climate and ecological impact," explains Navea, "based on the chemical composition of the 它释放的颗粒以及它们如何溶解并将铁释放到大气中的水(云， fog, rain). Iron is a critical nutrient for ocean phytoplankton, which consume greenhouse gas, CO2, from the atmosphere."

Borgatta, who has been working with the Navea Research Group 从她大二的秋季学期开始，今年夏天加入了Schupf奖学金 18岁的黛博拉·金，18岁的凯瑟琳·史，和18岁的塔利亚·斯托蒂尼都是即将升入大学的新生 summer research for the first time and planning to continue this fall. Navea says, “Jaya已经成为一位名副其实的科学家，一位发表过两次论文的科学家 no less. And Deborah, Katie, and Talia, as first-year researchers, have already made a great impact in my lab in just four weeks."

“这项研究真正酷的地方在于它是多么的独一无二，以及我们的发现如何 truly matter," says Kim, who is now rethinking her plan to go to veterinary school. “我们没有很多火博体育粉煤灰溶解的信息——只有很少的研究 groups in the world studying it—so it's exciting every time we get new results."

This year’s Summer Faculty-Student Research Program 特色88名火博体育学生与41名教职员工在67个暑假密集工作 research projects in a wide range of disciplines. Here are a few (full list of projects below):

Political elites in Turkey

另一个具有全球影响的项目是政府教授Feryaz Ocakli的“多样化”项目 通往政治权力的道路:对土耳其政治生涯轨迹的考察 Elites." Ocakli’s main area of research is Islamist parties. He explores how Islamist parties broaden their appeal to non-Islamist voters and succeed in elections. He has 我也很想分析一下他们的教育、职业和人口背景 of Turkey’s members of parliament (For more on his research and teaching, go here.) .

Says Ocakli, "I wanted to study the political elites because we don’t actually know who they are and how they got elected to the nation’s parliament, at least not in quantitative terms. I wanted to create a data set to illuminate the forces at work. But I needed a responsible Skidmore student who spoke Turkish to do this work."

No problem. Beginning last spring semester, he hired economics majors Ovgu Bozgeyik '16 and Oyku Bozgeyik '16, twin sisters from Turkey, as his research assistants. Things went so well that they asked if they could continue their data collection efforts and make it part of the summer research program.

Says Oyku, "Though I study economics, this project has helped me realize the effect of politics on a country's state of affairs. When this country is Turkey, everything 这真的很有趣，因为作为学生，我们知道很多，同时也知道一点 who come from Turkey. The experience with data collection and analysis will also benefit us after Skidmore when we apply to Ph.D. programs in economics."

Groundbreaking hydropower

This April, Skidmore and its project partner, Gravity Renewables我们庆祝了一个翻新的微型水力发电厂的开幕，我们希望它将提供 up to four megawatts hours of electricity annually to the grid, which Skidmore has agreed to purchase for two decades. The College will get about 18 percent of its electricity from the dam.

Caroline Hobbs '16, an economics and environmental studies double major, spoke at the April ribbon-cutting . She says what most excites her about this "ground-breaking" project is that there are "minimal negative ecological effects" and that the "untapped potential in New York state for more micro-hydro projects is huge."

Hobbs is working this summer with environmental studies professor Karen Kellogg to create an interactive website that she hopes will increase visibility around Skidmore’s renewable energy initiatives and spur on additional micro-hydro projects and partnerships. This fall, Hobbs and Kellogg also plan to co-author a paper and do a presentation on the history of the dam.

Says Hobbs, "I hope the project will help more students recognize that Skidmore is truly on the cutting-edge in terms of renewable energy policy and action and take greater pride in what our school is all about."

Too old for college?

Math majors Sarah Markiewicz '16 and Kenzie Furman '16 say professor Michael Lopez’s  上学期的“概率与统计”课程激起了他们的研究兴趣 this summer.

Lopez, who enjoys analyzing sports data and has written for Sports Illustrated and 冰球新闻很清楚，有研究表明，运动员出生在第一部分 of the calendar year often outperform the rest of their age group because they get a head start. It surprised him, though, that similar statistical analyses had not been done on college students. Why not study Skidmore data?

He says, "We're looking at measures like graduation status, GPA, and SAT scores for students, specifically wondering if the relatively older students have shown better 或者更差的表现，同时也希望找出学生成功的其他决定因素." 马基维茨不确定自己大学毕业后想做什么，但她知道自己喜欢申请工作 math, so she jumped at the opportunity to test-drive these statistics. Furman plans to be an actuary, so an experience with statistics and probability is a great fit for her future.

Bacterial genetics 

细菌是伟大的机会主义者和适应者，这可能会给战斗带来问题 disease, says chemistry professor Kelly Sheppard. Prevention solutions require a keen understanding of how bacteria exploit different environments.

Describing his work with Sheppard on asparaginyl-tRNA formation in bacilli, Miles Calzini '16解释说:“在枯草芽孢杆菌中，我正在去除一个基因 它负责将氨基酸天冬酰胺正确地附着在它的转移上 RNA. The organism has another way to do this attaching. We're going to see how this removal, called a knockout, affects growth of the bacterium, since it will have to rely on its alternate pathway."

迈尔斯正在与17岁的朱莉娅·厄斯金合作，她是一名即将升入大二的学生，她展示了一张海报 on aspartyl-tRNA synthesis in Bacillus anthracis, a pathogenic relative of B. subtilis, at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Boston in March. With Sheppard and previous Skidmore undergraduate co-authors, they plan to submit 在今年夏天晚些时候发表在《火博体育官网》杂志上的一篇文章中谈到了这两种途径 for asparaginyl-tRNA formation these bacteria. They are joined this summer by Ruth Allard '16, who hopes to go to medical school, and David Sweezey '17, who is aiming for graduate school.

After a year and a half doing research with Sheppard, Erskine, who plans to become a physician’s assistant, is pleased with her progress. "Not only am I confident and 在实验室工作更有能力，但我也学会了如何排除故障 out (which is often). I am no longer reliant on lab manuals or cookie-cutter procedures. I am able to think for myself, and think like a scientist."

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Summer Collaborative Research 2015 People and Projects

Schupf Scholars                                                                                           

1. Frederick, Kimberley, Chemistry, Cantwell, Kelly '18, Construction of a lab-on-a-CD player analysis platform, Schupf (10-week)      

2. Frederick, Kimberley, Chemistry, Greenspan, Jillian '17, Development of a remote 用于监测水力压裂场地附近水污染的分析装置，Schupf(10周)   

3. Navea, Juan, Chemistry, Shi, Katherine '18，对流层气溶胶的水吸附， Schupf (10-week)      

4. Navea, Juan, Chemistry, Kim, Deborah, '18, Atmospheric aerosol dissolution, Schupf (10-week) 

5. Navea, Juan, Chemistry, Stortini, Talia '18，多相化学和光化学， Schupf (10-week) 

6. Sheppard, Kelly, Chemistry, Schapiro, Hannah '17, Expanding the genetic code of E.coli with Pyroglutamate, Schupf (10-week)        

7. Sheppard, Kelly, Chemistry, Danielson, Meggie '17, Asparaginyl-tRNA formation in Bacilli, Schupf (10-week)                

Higher Education Opportunity Program    

8. Frederick, Kimberley, Chemistry, Wang, Sibin '16, Development of a paper-based test for malaria, 5-week-2, HEOP   

9. Reynolds, T.H., Health and Exercise Sciences, Escudero, Daniela '16, Succinic acid as a potential treatment for age-related metabolic dysfunction, 5-week-2, HEOP       

10. Possidente, Bernard, Biology, Cuevas, Randy '16, Geometric morphemetric analysis of the effects of lead on Drosophila wing shape and body size, 5-week-2, HEOP           

11. Bonner, Jennifer, Biology and Neuroscience, Campbell, Delon '16, Using zebrafish to study nervous system defects in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, 10-week, HEOP  

Weg Scholars                                                                                                

12. Bales, Kara Cetto, Chemistry, Friedman, Nicholas '17, Synthetic investigation and application of a substituted 4,6-dimethyl-3-cyclohexene compound, 10-week, Weg

13. Bales, Kara Cetto, Chemistry, Soong, Lauren '16, Diels-Alder的合成研究 reactions with a-B unsaturated ketones, 5-week-1, Weg           

14. Bales, Kara Cetto, Chemistry, O'Sullivan, Justin '17, Synthetic investigation of Diels-Alder reactions with a-B unsaturated ketones, 10-week, Weg   

15. Domozych,David, Biology, Lietz, Anna '17, Functional role of auxin hormones in charophytes: an evolutionary perspective, 10-week, Weg

16. Domozych, David, Biology, Patten, Molly '17, Charophyte cell wall proteomics: In search of the super polymer domain, 10-week, Weg             

17. Drake, Abby Grace, Biology, Street, Jessica '16, Who let the wolves in? Geometric morphometric analysis of morphological variation during domestication, 5-week-2, Weg        

18. Frederick, Kimberley, Chemistry, Bryant, Julie '16, Development of a lab-on-a-CD player analysis platform, 5-week-2, Weg

19. Lopez, Hassan, Psychology and Neuroscience, Schoolcraft, Kathleen ’16, How does cannabidiol reduce seizure activity?, 5-week-1, Weg     

20. McDevitt, Sylvia, Biology, Rivera, Ana Sofia '16, Survival under copper shock - testing the importance of a proposed copper resistance island, 5-week-1, Weg        

21. Navea, Juan, Chemistry, Borgatta, Jaya '16, Environmental effect of humic acids on aqueous iron, 10-week, Weg                  

Axelrod

22. Ernst, Anne, Environmental Studies, Sidor, Lauren '17, Assessing water quality in Kayaderosseras Creek, 5-week-1, Axelrod             

23. Howard, Rebecca, Chemistry, Ruel, Travers '16, Physicochemical determinants of 乙醇在模型配体门控离子通道结合位点中的调制，5周1,Axelrod                  

Undesignated Unrestricted Funds                                                               

24. Das, Monica, Economics, Raynaud, Lukas '17, Role of nano-economics in economic growth and development , 5-week-2, undesignated   

25. Halstead, Evan, Physics, Vardiashvili, Guram '16, Inflation in 2+1 dimensions, 8-week, undesignated  

26. Howlett, David  linked with Kent, Eliza, Philosophy & Religion, Williams, Alina '16, Strangite Mormon narratives of religious freedom and religious persecution in New York and beyond, 8-week, undesignated            

27. Karp, David, Campus Life, Frank, Olivia '16, The future of restorative justice, 10-week, undesignated             

28. Lindemann, Richard, Geosciences, Kilgore, Matthew '16, Dacryoconarid biostratigraphy of the middle devonian bakoven shale of Eastern NYS,  5-week-1, undesignated     

29. Lopez, Michael, Mathematics, Markiewicz, Sarah '16, Relative age effect on college admission and enrollment, 10-week, undesignated      

30. Ocakli, Feryaz, Government, Bozgeyik, Ovgu '16, Paths to Power:  An Examination of the Career Trajectories of Turkish Political Elites, 5-week-1, undesignated       

31. Ocakli, Feryaz, Government, Bozgeyik, Oyku '16, Paths to Power:  An Examination of the Career Trajectories of Turkish Political Elites, 5-week-1, undesignated       

32. Odekon, Mary Crone, Physics, Gengras, Graeme '17, Are galaxies pre-processed in filaments? 5-week-1, undesignated        

33. Odekon, Mary Crone, Physics, Hyman, Mario '16, Are galaxies预处理in filament? 5-week-1, undesignated 

34. Schneller, Andrew J., Environmental Studies, Coburn, Sarah '16, Impacts of participation in environmental voluntourism programs on participant Commitment to Volunteerism, Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors, and Involvement in Envrionmental Issues, 5-week-2, undesignated                       

Named Unrestricted Funds                              

35. Frederick, Kimberley, Chemistry, Rehmeyer, Nathanael '18，一种基于尿液的 diagnostic for malaria, 10-week, Reiderer Family           

36. Howard, Rebecca, Chemistry, Mola, Alex '16, Physicochemical determinants of alcohol 模型配体门控离子通道结合位点的调制，5周1,Riederer家族

37. Sheppard, Kelly, Chemistry, Allard, Ruth '16，芽胞杆菌中天冬酰胺- trna的形成， 10-week, Riederer Family                      

38. Giguere, Ray, Chemistry, Ani, good '16，串联分子内的合成研究 diels-alder reactions, 5-week-1, D & J Richards Fund            

39. Johnson, Rebecca, Psychology, Slate, Sarah Rose'16, The processing of blend words in visual word recognition, 10-week, Harman Cain Family      

40. Johnson, Rebecca, Psychology, Starr, Emma '16, The effect of emotion-laden words on processing during reading, 5-week-2, Harman Cain Family 

41. Schofield, Casey, Psychology, Aaron, Elizabeth '16, Evaluating the impact of shame on treatment-seeking for anxiety, 5-week-1, Harman Cain Family

42. Knickerbocker, H. Faye, Psychology, Boucher, Juliana '16, Meta proactive interference, 8-week, Harman Cain Family               

43. Bonner, Jennifer, Biology and Neuroscience, Brojakowska, Agnieszka '17, Using 斑马鱼研究胎儿酒精谱系障碍的神经系统缺陷，10周， Philip P. Markowitz                              

44. Ernst, Anne, Environmental Studies, Van Meter, Nate '17, Assessing water quality in Kayaderosseras Creek, 10-week, Margaret Williams Page                                              

45. 凯洛格，卡伦，环境研究，霍布斯，卡罗琳'16，奇滕登的力量 Falls dam, 5-week-1, Marlene Oberkotter Fowler        

46. Mulligan, Scott, Management and Business and International Affairs, Diggs, Makeda [17] 21世纪的监控研究:GIS与监控技术研究 for classroom use and museum exhibition, 5-week-1, Marlene Oberkotter Fowler     

47. Nathan, Daniel, American Studies, Kipperman, Nevon '16, Reel sport and Hollywood, 5-week-1, Marlene Oberkotter Fowler          

48. 特纳，罗伯特，政府，韦奇，埃琳娜16岁，国家移民的奇怪伙伴 politics, 10-week, Marlene Oberkotter Fowler

49. Lagalwar, Sara, Neuroscience, Lowry, Spencer '18, Modeling spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 in mice and cells, 5-week-2, Rafael Nasser       

50. Lagalwar, Sara, Neuroscience, Nguyen, Donna '18, Modeling spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 in mice and cells, 5-week-2, Rafael Nasser       

51. Lagalwar, Sara, Neuroscience, Burr, Eliza '17, Modeling spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 in mice and cells, 5-week-2, Rafael Nasser                

52. Ives, Stephen, Health and Exercise Sciences, Eddy, Cassandra '17, The effects of aging, a high fat diet, and long term succinic acid treatment on vascular health and mitochondrial function in mice, 10-week, Richard A. Mellon        

53. McDevitt, Sylvia，生物学，Zepeda-Carranza, Bryan '17，铜-银交叉电阻测试 the potential of homolog proteins of CopA from Escherichia coli, 5-week-1, Richard A. Mellon             

54. Lepkowska-White, Ela, Management and Business and International Affairs, Rinaolo, Sarah '17, Creative Web Design: Application of cognitive map theory in the context of online restaurant marketing, 10-week, Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Woodcock                     

55. 李少勇，教育研究，Gross, Kendall '16，火博体育系统 context, 5-week-1, Jim Lippman and Linda Friedman Lippman                      

56. Lopez, Michael, Mathematics, Furman, Mackenzie '16, Relative age effect on college admission and enrollment, 10-week, Jim Lippman and Linda Friedman Lippman               

57. Estapa, Margaret, Geosciences  , McCully, Emma '16, Measuring hydrothermal plume particles with optical backscattering sensors: preliminary tests of a new method, 10-week, Samuel Croll                     

58. Roca, Maryuri, Chemistry, Skipper, Hannah '17, Tunability of nanoparticle's color in polymer preparation, 5-week-1, Michael Rose             

59. Ives, Stephen, Health and Exercise Sciences, O'Brien, Gabe '16, The effects of 衰老、高脂肪饮食和长期琥珀酸治疗对血管健康的影响 mitochondrial function in mice, 10-week, Christy Johnson           

60. Reynolds  T.H., Health and Exercise Sciences, Gorstein, Lauren '17, Succinic acid as a potential treatment for age-related metabolic dysfunction, 5-week-1, Christy Johnson                 

61. Kennerly, William, Chemistry, Kofke, Elijah '16, Computational photochemistry of organic fluorescent molecules, 10-week, Shehan Dissanayake