Posted on Apr 30, 2008

Each spring, Union hundreds of students showcase their intellectual insights, creativity and scholarly accomplishments at the Steinmetz Symposium. The campus-wide event, a highlight of the Union experience, takes place Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, with a full spectrum of presentations, performances, exhibits and more.

Most sessions will be held Friday, with classes cancelled to allow the entire campus community to attend.

Students are delving into topics ranging from Mayan mathematics (Valencia Starr ’08) and media portrayals of autism (Kimberly Tureck ’10) to the “truth” about fair trade coffee (John Traver ’08).

They have analyzed how the personalities of U.S. Supreme Court Justices O’Connor and Frankfurter affect their decisions on the bench (Jessica Goldberg ’08) and how carbon emissions impact Schenectady (Sarah Conner ’10).  

Mechanical Engineering major Andrew Salemo ’08 will present his design of a hockey puck for the visually impaired, while another ME major, Guo Hong Ho ’08, will unveil his solar-powered thermoelectric ice maker in a session devoted to renewable energy.

In their sociological analyses of “Media, Muslims and Medicine,” students have researched traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine (Mary Abraham ’08), how South Asians are depicted in Western television and film (Geraldine Emmanuel ’08) and the psychosocial impact of 9/11 on young American Muslims (Naazia Husain’08).

Music major Richard Moccia ’08 will give an ethnographic overview of ska music and the current third wave ska scene in the United States, and Biology major Jesse Mango ’08 will explain the photosynthetic rate of mosses.  

Alex Handin ’10, a Physics and History major, will present “Southern Louisiana Hurricane Recovery,” a photojournalistic account of his community service mini-term in New Orleans. He shares “individual stories of survival and reconstruction often lost in the media frenzy surrounding the storms.”

On a peripatetic note, about 70 students will take part in the Steinmetz dance concert at the Nott Memorial Friday, 12:20-1:30 p.m.

Student art in all media will be on view in the Burns Arts Atrium Gallery in the Visual Arts Building.

The Union College Choir and the Union College and Community Orchestra concert, with Victor Klimash conducting, is set for Friday, 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.

The College’s annual Prize Day ceremonies will be held Saturday, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. Students are honored for achievement in academics, research, service, governance and athletics.

Also on Saturday, the Union College Jazz Ensemble will perform 1–2 p.m. in Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center in a concert featuring jazz and popular styles, from the Dixieland classic “Basin Street Blues” to Santana’s “Black Magic Woman.”

Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923), chief consulting engineer for the General Electric Company, was widely regarded as America’s leading electrical engineer. He taught Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Union from 1902 until his death.

For more information and the full symposium program, visit: http://www.union.edu/steinmetz.

Posted on Apr 30, 2008

One of the highlights of this weekend’s Steinmetz Symposium is the exhibition of student art work in the Burns Arts Atrium Gallery, located in the Visual Arts Building.This year, there are 93 images created by 74 Union students.

The exhibition contains drawings, prints, 2-D design works, traditional and digital photographs, sculpture, digital art and electronic works.

Faculty members sponsoring works from their area of expertise are Martin Benjamin (photography), Chris Duncan (sculpture), Walter Hatke (drawing and painting), Fernando Orellana (digital and electronic art) and Sandy Wimer (2-D design, printmaking and drawing). 

The exhibition was installed by Frank Rapant of the Visual Arts Department. It runs through Sunday, May 4, with a public reception set for Thursday, May 1, 4-5:30 p.m.

Posted on Apr 30, 2008

Thursday, May 1, 4 p.m. / Visual Arts Building, Burns Atrium Art Gallery / Reception for Steinmetz Symposium Student Art Exhibition

Thursday, May 1, 4:30 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Philosophy Speaker Series presents Karl Ameriks of the University of Notre Dame on “Kant’s First Historical Thesis”

Friday, May 2 – Sunday, May 4 / Campus / Steinmetz Symposium and Spring Family Weekend

Friday, May 2, 12:20 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Steinmetz Symposium Dance Concert 

Friday, May 2, 8 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Union College and Community Orchestra and Union College Choir

Friday, May 2 – Monday, May 5, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “Spiderwick Chronicles”

Saturday, May 3, 1 p.m. / Buck Ewing Field, Central Park / Men’s baseball vs. Vassar College

Saturday, May 3, 1 p.m. / Taylor Music Center, Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium / Union College Jazz Ensemble

Saturday, May 3, 1 p.m. / Rugby Pitch / Men’s rugby vs. TBD

Monday, May 5, 4-5:30 p.m. / Hale House, Everest Lounge / “Government, Business and Academic Perspectives,” panel discussion on U.S. businesses interested in expanding to China, keys to success in Chinese markets and the role of Chinese politics in business. Participants include Jonathan Heimer '85, U.S. Department of Commerce; Jerry Shaye, Empire State Development; Sam Sylvetsky, Fortitech, Inc.; Economics Professor  Lewis Davis and Union College; and Political Science Professor Zhang Wu. Sponsored by the Economics Club.

Tuesday, May 6, 6:15 p.m. / Beuth House / Dessert and discussion with Rob Caughlin, environmental advocate and political speechwriter

Tuesday, May 6, 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. / F.W. Olin Center, Room 107 / Presentation on Faculty Center Network (FCN)

Wednesday, May 7, 5 p.m. / Rugby Pitch / Men’s rugby vs. University at Albany

Thursday, May 8, 12:40 p.m. / Science and Engineering Building, Room N304 / Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Christian Wetzel of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Thursday, May 8, 12:45 p.m. / F.W. Olin Center, Room 115 / Biology Department Seminar Series presents Dacheng Ren of Syracuse University on “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding and Controlling Biofilm Formation”

Thursday, May 8, 12:45 p.m. / F.W. Olin Center, Room 106 / Chemistry Department Seminar Series presents Eric Dimise of the Department of Chemistry, Boston College, on “Isolation, Structure Elucidation and Biosynthesis of Fuscachelin, a Nonribosomal Peptide Siderophore from Thermobifida fusca”

Friday, May 9 – Monday, May 12, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “Fool’s Gold”

Monday, May 12, 1 p.m. – 1:45p.m. / Social Sciences Building, Room 014 / Russell Winer, the William H. Joyce Professor of Marketing in the Stern School of Business at New York University, on “Integrating Brand Choice Modeling and Behavioral Research”

Monday, May 12, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill discusses his book, “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” as part of the Langer Dinner, Dessert and Discussion Series; book signing at 8:30 p.m.

Posted on Apr 30, 2008

Each spring, Union hundreds of students showcase their intellectual insights, creativity and scholarly accomplishments at the Steinmetz Symposium. The campus-wide event, a highlight of the Union experience, takes place Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, with a full spectrum of presentations, performances, exhibits and more.

Most sessions will be held Friday, with classes cancelled to allow the entire campus community to attend.

Students are delving into topics as vast and fascinating as Mayan mathematics (Valencia Starr ’08), media portrayals of autism (Kimberly Tureck ’10) and the “truth” about fair trade coffee (John Traver ’08).

They have analyzed how the personalities of Supreme Court Justices O’Connor and Frankfurter affect their decisions on the bench (Jessica Goldberg ’08) and how carbon emissions affect Schenectady (Sarah Conner ’10).  

Mechanical Engineering major Andrew Salemo ’08 will present his design of a hockey puck for the visually impaired, while another ME major, Guo Hong Ho ’08, will unveil his solar-powered thermoelectric ice maker in a session devoted to renewable energy.

In their sociological analyses of “Media, Muslims and Medicine,” students have researched traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine (Mary Abraham ’08), how South Asians are depicted in Western television and film (Geraldine Emmanuel ’08) and the psychosocial impact of 9/11 on young American Muslims (Naazia Husain’08).

Alex Handin ’10, a Physics and History major, will present “Southern Louisiana Hurricane Recovery,” a photojournalistic account of his community service mini-term in New Orleans. He shares “individual stories of survival and reconstruction often lost in the media frenzy surrounding the storms.”

Music major Richard Moccia ’08 will give an ethnographic overview of ska music and the current third wave ska scene in the United States, and Biology major Jesse ’08 will explain the photosynthetic rate of mosses.  

On a peripatetic note, some 70 students will take part in the Steinmetz dance concert at the Nott Memorial Friday, 12:20-1:30 p.m.

Student art in all media are on view in the Burns Arts Atrium Gallery in the Visual Arts Building.

The Union College Choir and the Union College and Community Orchestra concert, with Victor Klimash conducting, is set for Friday, 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.

The College’s annual Prize Day ceremonies will be held Saturday, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. Students are honored for achievements that reflect their superior academics, research, service, governance, athletics and character.

Also on Saturday, the Union College Jazz Ensemble will perform 1–2 p.m. in Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center in a concert featuring jazz and popular styles, from the Dixieland classic “Basin Street Blues” to Santana’s “Black Magic Woman.”

Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923), chief consulting engineer for the General Electric Company, was widely regarded as America’s leading electrical engineer. He taught Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Union from 1902 until his death.

For more information and the full symposium program, visit: http://www.union.edu/steinmetz/.

Posted on Apr 29, 2008

The Union College Chemistry Club was recognized as a Commendable Student Affiliates Chapter (the second highest honor) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at the society’s national meeting. This marks the 14^th straight year the club has received an ACS award.

Laura Castellano ’09, president, accepted the award on behalf of the club’s officers.

Eight Chemistry and Biochemistry students and two Chemistry Department faculty members attended the meeting in New Orleans; they gave eight research presentations.

Travel funding for the students came from grants from Union’s Internal Education Fund, the American Chemical Society’s Women Chemists Committee (WCC), the National Science Foundation and departmental support.

Emily Green ’08 (Chemistry/Mechanical Engineering), who received a competitive travel award from the WCC, was recognized at a luncheon. She presented her poster, “Characterization of Hydrophobic Silica Aerogels Prepared Via a Rapid Supercritical Extraction Method,” in the Division of Inorganic Chemistry’s Synthesis and Characterization of Materials Poster Session. Co-authors were Jason Melville ’07 (ME), Michael Bono’09 (ME), Prof. Ann Anderson (ME) and Prof. Mary Carroll (Chemistry).

Prof. Laura MacManus-Spencer gave an oral presentation, “Investigation of the Binding of Perfluorocarboxylates to a Model Serum Protein: A comparison of Analytical methods.” Co-author was Monica Tse ’08 (Chemistry).

Justin Blau ’08 (Chemistry/Arts) presented a poster on his thesis research titled, “Paint Media Analysis by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy and Infrared Spectroscopy.” Co-author was Prof. Seyffie Maleki (Physics and Astronomy).

Sadie Gorman ’08 (Biochemistry) presented a poster on her thesis research, “Bioaccumulation of Ultraviolet Filter Chemicals in Lumbriculus Variegatus.” Co-author was Prof. MacManus-Spencer.

Tse presented a poster on her thesis research titled, “Photochemical degradation of UV Filter Chemicals in Surface Waters.” Co-author was Prof. MacManus-Spencer.

William Hoek ’08 (Chemistry) and David Karlin ’08 (Chemistry) co-presented a poster titled, “Laponite Nanohybrid Films for Solar Cell Applications” in the Division of Inorganic Chemistry’s Inorganic Materials in Nanoscience – Synthesis Poster Session. Co-authors were Profs. Joanne Kehlbeck (Chemistry) and Michael Hagerman (Chemistry).

Shazia Baig ’09 (Chemistry) presented a poster on “Preparation and Spectroscopic Characterization of Silica Aerogels Doped with Metal Porphyrin Complexes.” Co-authors were Caleb Wattley ’08 (ME) and Profs. Anderson and Carroll.

Castellano (Chemistry) presented “Union College Chemistry Club: Forming Bonds with the Local Community” in the Division of Chemical Education’s Successful Student Affiliates Chapters Poster Session. Co-authors were Christopher Backlund ’09, Daniel Bailey ’09, Amanda Barrow ’08, Alexander Carrese ’08, Olga Davydenko ’08, Gorman, Green, Fariha Ramay ’09, Tse, and Profs. Carroll and Laura MacManus-Spencer.