Posted on Jan 26, 2006

Lake Placid – Three Union students were among the top finishers at the Clarkson Invitational at Whiteface Mountain last weekend.

Freshman Rob Powell finished fifth in the men's slalom, while sophomore Ben Rapple finished sixth in the giant slalom in the first meeting of the season. Freshman Beth Solomon finished ninth in the women's slalom.

Two other Union students, freshmen Will Schoendorf and Matt Byrne, also competed in the meet.

Union does not have an official alpine ski team, but the five students are permitted to ski under rules by the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSSA).

Skiers from other colleges, including RPI, Colgate and Hamilton, also competed at Whiteface. The Union students will race this weekend in the Colgate Invitational at Toggenburg Mountain.

Posted on Jan 26, 2006

The Research and Grants Committee is soliciting proposals for faculty research and scholarship activities. The deadline for submission is Friday, Feb. 3.

Applications and guidelines are available in Dean of Arts and Sciences Charlotte Borst's office (Science & Engineering, S-100) or on the Web at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs. Questions should be directed to Dean Borst. If your research includes work with human subjects, the proposals must have preliminary approval from the Human Subjects Research Committee.

Posted on Jan 26, 2006

The deadline for proposals for the Internal Education Foundation in two categories – student-initiated research projects and “educationally innovative projects” – is Friday, Feb. 3.

Proposals for student-initiated research projects must have the written approval of a faculty advisor who has agreed to supervise the project.  The proposals should be submitted to the director of undergraduate research (Science & Engineering, S-100). Application forms are available in S&E, S-100, or on the Web at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs.

Members of the College community who have educationally innovative proposals should submit them to the dean of arts & sciences (S&E, S-100) on forms available there, or on the Web at http://www.union.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs.

Questions concerning student-initiated research projects should be directed to Prof. Mary Carroll at carrollm@union.edu, while questions concerning educationally innovative projects should be directed to Dean Borst's office. Transportation costs should also reflect the best rates available. 

Students who are planning to do interviews must indicate that arrangements have already been made. If your research includes work with human subjects, then the proposal must have preliminary approval from the Human Subjects Research Committee before it can be funded by the Subcouncil on Undergraduate Research.

Posted on Jan 26, 2006

George Y. Bizer, assistant professor of psychology, has had two articles accepted for publication. One, by Bizer, Z.L. Tormala, D.D. Rucker and R.E. Petty for the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, is titled “On-line versus memory-based processing: Implications for Attitude Strength.”

The way in which we process information about a new person – by evaluating each item as we learn it or by evaluating the entire group of items after learning all of them – has profound impacts on how strong our resultant attitudes will be.  People who processed information in an “on-line” fashion were more certain about their opinions and were more likely to act upon their opinions.

Bizer also has written, with C.J. Weber, “The effects of immediate forewarning of test difficulty on test performance” for the Journal of General Psychology.

Warning students that a test they are about to take will be difficult impacted different types of students in different ways.  High-anxiety students performed significantly worse when given such a warning, while low-anxiety students performed significantly better when given such a warning.

Posted on Jan 26, 2006

Donald T. Rodbell, professor of geology, and Paul T. Gremillion of Northern Arizona State University (formerly of Union), are co-authors of an article, “A Winter Field-based Course on Limnology and Paleolimnology” in the November 2005 issue of Journal of Geoscience Education.

The article details the “Lakes and Environmental Change” course, developed and taught by the authors, in which students sample water and sediment from atop lake ice. Similar courses at other institutions often rely on large research vessels. Lab exercises take place on Collins Pond, Stony Creek Reservoir, Ballston Lake, Round Lake and Saratoga Lake. The issue cover shows a photograph by Rodbell of students working on Ballston Lake.