Posted on Sep 12, 2007

The popularity of the weekly, student-run Café Ozone last year has inspired a spinoff offering a daily selection of organic and locally grown produce, meats and cheeses.

The new café, tucked in a corner of the Reamer Campus Center, debuted Monday, Sept. 10. It has already proved to be a popular food option.

“This evolved as a collective idea between Dining Services and the students of the sustainability theme house,” said Dan Detora, director of Dining Services. “Fostering sustainability is part of the College’s Strategic Plan, and Café Ozone really helped to get the ball rolling for this venture.”

Café Ozone is a student-run program featuring organic lunches every Friday in Old Chapel, or in the neighboring courtyard, Mrs. Perkins’ Garden, weather permitting. Dining Services prepares the food and student volunteers serve the lunches to students, faculty and staff.

When Café Ozone began, Detora and members of his staff traveled to farmers’ markets in Saratoga and Troy to purchase goods. This year, a farmers’ representative coordinated the delivery of produce from 20 local farms.

“I place the orders and the farmers’ rep obtains the produce from the various farms and delivers it to Union,” said Detora. “The emphasis is on supporting local businesses from a community and environmental standpoint.”

All of the produce for the new café, comes from local farms, though not all the food is organic. In addition to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, offerings include arugula, fennel, oyster mushrooms and poblano peppers. Other products include soups, juices, soy milk, jams, peanut butter and syrup. Customers can also buy whole fruits and vegetables to take home.

“We’re hoping to have enough local produce to get us through the fall semester, then we will go all organic and have products shipped in for the winter term,” explained Detora. “In the spring, we hope to return to a combination of organic and local farmers’ goods.”

The new café, which is seeking a name, is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, though the hours could expand if the cafe continues to draw a crowd.

“Local farms need community support to stay in business,” said Detora. “By eliminating the need for trucking in goods, the products tend to be fresher and the cost savings can be passed on to the consumer.”

Sara Jacobson ’10 worked with Café Ozone last year and was among those who lobbied Dining Services for a permanent cafe.

“I strongly believe in supporting local food growers — more so even than choosing purely organic food — and I think it was an important and missing alternative food choice on campus,” she said.

For now, the new dining spot is simply referred to as the Local and Organic Café. A contest to pick a permanent name runs through Sept. 28, with the winner receiving $100 on their meal plan account. The winning name will be picked by the campus Food Committee, made up of Union staff and students.

For more information, contact manager Jonelle Bayer at 388-6051 or Retail Director Elaine Reynolds at 388-8756.

Posted on Sep 12, 2007

Davide Cervone, associate professor of Mathematics, will discuss “The Elegance of Line: Ruled Surfaces and the Dynamics of the Olivier Models,” Tuesday, Sept. 18, 4:15 p.m. in Bailey Hall 201.

The College owns a rare collection of early 19th century mathematical models designed by Théodore Olivier. Nine of the more than 40 models are now housed in a display case in Bailey Hall, outside the Mathematics Department office. 

“One of the remarkable qualities of these models is that they are manipulatives; that is, they have parts that move to help illustrate families of surfaces and how they interact,” Cervone said. “Due to the age and delicacy of the models, however, we no longer are allowed to adjust them, but we can still appreciate their elegant design.”

Cervone will discuss the differential geometry that underlies and motivates the models.

“It will not require much mathematical background, and much of the talk will be involved in seeing what the models were meant to do through interactive computer simulations, bringing these wonderful objects once again to life.”

Posted on Sep 12, 2007

Union’s Minerva Mentors, or Peer Assistants for Learning (PALs), have scheduled a number of workshops and other events for the term:

Lab science: Learning how to deal with a college science course; Thursday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m., Green House

Balancing athletics: How student-athletes can keep it together, featuring coping skills; Monday, Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m., F.W. Olin Auditorium

Time management: The art of having fun and making great grades; Tuesday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Wold House

Balancing Greek life: How to excel at academics while being in a sorority or fraternity; Wednesday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m., Reamer Auditorium

Test taking: Great ways to prepare for tests in any discipline; Tuesday, Oct. 2, 6 p.m., Beuth House

The peer mentors provide coaching that addresses general academic needs to enhance success at Union. In addition to study skills and dealing with time management and anxiety, the PALs help students with personal development and adjustment issues. Faculty members who notice students or advisees who are struggling in class or have other concerns are encouraged to refer them to the program. Visit htpp://mentors.union.edu/.   

Posted on Sep 11, 2007

Remember the "Sol-Gel Song" by Liz Lax ’05?

It’s become an international hit, at least in the community of scientists and engineers who devote themselves to the ultra-light materials known for their insulating properties.

It was performed by officers of the International Sol-Gel Society at their 14^th conference last week in Montpellier, France, according to Mary Carroll of Chemistry, the College's director of undergraduate research, who attended with Ann Anderson of Mechanical Engineering. The two are co-directors of the College’s Aerogel Lab.

Carroll and Anderson presented four papers at the conference, with several current and former students as co-authors.

Lax, a first-year medical student at St. George’s University in Grenada, composed the piece in the summer of 2003 as a way to “pass the time in lab. “She performed it at the Steinmetz Symposium the following spring and posted the performance on the Web. It was there that officers of ISGS found the song and the lyrics. (What they performed was a mix of Lax’s song and Queen's “We Are the Champions” — substituting “sol gels” for “champions.)

“During the conference banquet, Dr. Christophe Barbe, one of the officers of the International (ISGS, http://www.isgs.org/ ), called the rest of the ISGS officers to the microphone and announced that Liz Lax from Union College in New York had written a song about sol gels, and they were going to sing it,” Carroll said. “As you can imagine, we were delighted.

“Afterward, Ann and I let them know that Liz had been a research student in our lab,” Carroll said. “They hadn’t made the connection, which is probably a good thing, since they might have asked us to sing it!”

Some of the lyrics:

"Here in the bat cave, we play around with chemicals
Give me TMOS, methanol and ammonium hydroxide
Stir for ten minutes, don't forget the water
We're making sol-gels."

The song can be heard at http://scoter3.union.edu/~andersoa/AerogelWeb/.

Posted on Sep 11, 2007

Remember the "Sol-Gel Song" by Liz Lax ’05?

It’s become an international hit, at least in the community of scientists and engineers who devote themselves to the ultra-light materials known for their insulating properties.

It was performed by officers of the International Sol-Gel Society at their 14^th conference last week in Montpellier, France, according to Mary Carroll of Chemistry and director of undergraduate research. Carroll attended the conference with Ann Anderson of Mechanical Engineering, and the two are co-directors of the College’s Aerogel Lab.

Carroll and Anderson presented four papers at the conference, with several current and former students as co-authors.

Lax, a first-year medical student at St. George’s University in Grenada, composed the piece in the summer of 2003 as a way to “pass the time in lab. “She performed it at the Steinmetz Symposium the following spring, and posted the performance on the Web. It was there that officers of ISGS found the song and the lyrics. (What they performed was a mix of Lax’s song and Queens “We Are the Champions” — substituting “sol gels” for “champions.”)  

“During the conference banquet, Dr. Christophe Barbe, one of the officers of the International (ISGS, http://www.isgs.org/ ), called the rest of the ISGS officers to the microphone and announced that Liz Lax from Union College in New York had written a song about sol gels and that they were going to sing it,” Carroll said.

“As you can imagine, we were delighted.

"Afterwards, Ann and I … let them know that Liz had been a research student in our lab,” Carroll said. “They hadn’t made the connection, which is probably a good thing, since they might have asked us to sing it!”

 Some of the lyrics are:

"Here in the bat cave, we play around with chemicals
Give me TMOS, methanol and ammonium hydroxide
Stir for ten minutes, don't forget the water
We're making sol-gels."

The song can be heard at http://scoter3.union.edu/~andersoa/AerogelWeb/.