Posted on May 4, 2010

Two decades after the first Steinmetz Symposium was held at Union, the tradition of celebrating undergraduate research across all disciplines is stronger than ever.

The 20^th annual research showcase will bring together the campus community Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7. Hundreds of students will present their research in all forms, from the creative to the scientific, with most sessions scheduled for Friday (classes will not be in session).

Research topics run the gamut, from “Health Care Reform: Physicians’ Outlook on the Future of Medical Care” by Elina Meras ’10 to Peter Bonventre ‘10’s mathematical analysis of the “sweet spot” of a baseball bat; from women’s freedom in ancient Athens by Danielle Mendiola ’11 to electrospinning of PEO/laponite nanofibrous networks by Sangin Lee ’10.

Katie Sofia ’10 will present her small-scale vertical axis wind turbine, while Michael Wakita ’10 has redesigned the spray nozzle and canister of pepper spray bear deterrent.

Students from the Minerva course on food will gather in Beuth and Golub houses to present posters about African, Spanish, French, Japanese, Thai and Greek cuisine and serve samples, and returning Minerva Fellows will share tales and photos from abroad.

Sixty students will take part in the Steinmetz dance concert at the Nott Memorial Friday at 4 p.m. They will perform scenes from the Winter Dance Concert, “Red-Roja,” as well as new student choreography and music. Bhangra Union, the Ballroom Club, the Union College Dance Team and other groups also will present.

Head to the Burns Arts Atrium Gallery to see student works in a variety of media.

The Becker Career Center will hold an open house 1-4 p.m. The Steinmetz Symposium Banquet, for presenters, their parents, guests and faculty sponsors, takes place in Upperclass Dining Hall at 6:30 p.m.

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

Steinmetz Symposium coincides with Prize Day, beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday in Memorial Chapel, followed by a reception on the Reamer Campus Center patio at 12:30 p.m. 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 the Fred L. Emerson Foundation Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center.

Steinmetz Symposium is named for Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923), who taught electrical engineering and applied physics at Union. Widely regarded as America’s leading electrical engineer, he was also chief consulting engineer for the General Electric Company.

For more information and the full symposium program, click here.

Posted on May 3, 2010

A new exhibit in the Wikoff Student Gallery is now open. “Unnatural Selections: Environmental Illustrations by Vasyl Hereha” runs through June 6.

Hereha’s work consists of works on paper that explore contradictions in the natural world. In some cases, animals are subjected to unnatural habitats and conditions due to the inventions of man – oil spills, melting glaciers, inbreeding. In looking critically at the human impact on the environment, the work raises the question: What do we consider natural?

Hereha will discuss “Environmental Issues and Animal Cruelty: An Artistic Reflection” at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Visual Arts Building, Room 215, during Steinmetz Symposium.

Posted on May 3, 2010

Entomophobes the world over can rest easy. Despite the fact that there are millions more of them than there are of us, insects are unlikely to ever dominate by size, as a Union faculty member and two students are studying.

Scott Kirkton, assistant professor of biology, recently returned from a four-day research project on oxygen delivery in grasshoppers at the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill., a premier facility run by the Department of Energy and University of Chicago.

There, with the help of Lauren Hennessey ’11 and Leah Pepe ’11, he conducted research to better understand how oxygen delivery might change as the insects grow and age.

“There has been a long-established hypothesis that insect body size is limited by oxygen delivery,” Kirkton said.

In support of this hypothesis, 250 million years ago in the late Paleozoic, there is fossil evidence of hawk-sized dragonflies and other huge insects. But back then, it’s important to note, atmospheric oxygen levels were 35 percent as opposed to today’s 21 percent. 

“It has been suggested that larger insects respire inefficiently and that’s why we don’t have gigantic sci-fi like insects running around. However, the hypothesis has not been well tested,” Kirkton said.

To better test whether larger insects have trouble breathing, Kirkton, Hennessey and Pepe carried out a critical piece of their work at the lab using an X-ray synchrotron, which allowed them to visualize the respiratory tracheal system of living insects.

Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), one of the most technologically complex machines in the world, provides the brightest x-ray beams in the Western Hemisphere for research in most scientific disciplines.

“Argonne is a pretty amazing place,” said Kirkton, who received a grant from the facility. “When allotted beam time, you are expected to work 24 hours a day to maximize your use of the facility.”

The technique of using X-rays to see inside a living insect has led to an explosion of work in the field, he added.

Kirkton, Hennessey and Pepe are also examining whether oxygen delivery to the jumping muscles in grasshoppers decreases with body size across instars or within instars, the week-long periods before grasshoppers molt and begin the next phase of development.

They are working in collaboration with Kendra Greenlee of North Dakota State University and one of her research students.

“Kendra is interested in caterpillar O₂ delivery during development, while my lab works on O₂ delivery to the muscle of jumping grasshoppers. Similar questions but with different organisms,” Kirkton said.

In 2008, he brought two students, Elizabeth Nyberg ’09 and Elizabeth Stanford ’09, to Argonne as part of a collaboration with Greenlee’s lab. From that work, they received the most recent grant for beam time to measure metabolic rate, ventilation rate and air sac compression of living insects.

In August, the group will collect data across instars and will measure the metabolism and air sac compression rate/depth in the smallest juveniles as well as adult grasshoppers.

Posted on May 3, 2010

The Citizen of Laconia, N.H. recently profiled Chris Sheridan ’89, a writer and character voice for “Family Guy.” Sheridan graduated from nearby Gilford High School.

To read the story, click here.