SCIENCE CENTER PROGRAMS

The Science Center links the Bronfman Science Center with the Thompson Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Laboratories, Schow Library, and the Morley Science Laboratory wing; Clark Hall completes the Science Center complex. Serving as the home for astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, geosciences, history of science, mathematics and statistics, physics, and psychology, this facility fosters interdisciplinary interaction among all members of the Science Division. This interaction is facilitated through the sharing of core research equipment and services; through interdepartmental programs; and, to a great extent, by the spatial juxtaposition of faculty with common interests regardless of their departmental affiliation. Several Science Center activities promote this further by specifically encouraging discourse among scientists at Williams. This is carried out in a number of ways, including informal faculty presentations at Tuesday lunches (during both the summer and academic year), the maintenance of a weekly science calendar, the publication of the Report of Science at Williams, and the faculty lectures sponsored each semester by the local Sigma Xi chapter.

The programs based in the Science Center encompass the coordination of grant proposals to federal agencies and private foundations, the distribution of more than $400,000 of research funds annually, and the allocation of space within the science division. In 2006-2007, individual Williams College science faculty received over $1,000,000 from active federal grants for the purchase of equipment and support of research projects. Faculty and student research projects and summer research opportunities supported by internal divisional funds, as well as those supported by external grants, are detailed below and in the various departmental reports.

Summer Research Fellowships were awarded to 195 individuals at Williams in 2007. Many of the summer research students are entering their senior year and beginning work that will lead to senior honors research. A large number of research fellowships were awarded to rising sophomores and juniors who were getting their first taste of independent research. The summer research program also included students from outside Williams. Students from a variety of other institutions were sponsored by an NSF/REU site grant to the mathematics and statistics department and worked with Williams College faculty members. As participants in a chemistry department exchange program, two students from the University of Leiden worked with chemistry professors at Williams while two Williams chemistry majors worked with professors at the University of Leiden.

The summer is a relaxed, yet concentrated time for research, without the competition of course work to interrupt collaborative efforts between students and faculty. In addition to the actual research experience, the Science Center sponsors a weekly Tuesday luncheon featuring a member of the faculty lecturing on current research, an annual science division picnic, and a poster session at the end of the summer where summer research students present their results.

Support for summer research, a $3500 stipend for 10 weeks plus housing, comes from a variety of sources including College funds, external grants to individual faculty, foundation grants, and endowed fellowships provided by generous donations from alumni and friends of the sciences. The Wege-Markgraf endowment, gifts from Peter Wege and the Class of 1952 in honor of J. Hodge Markgraf ’52, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, supports summer research fellowships in chemistry. The John A. Lowe III 1973 fund also supports summer research fellowships in chemistry. The Betty and Lewis Somers ’48 Student Summer Internships Fund and the Thomas Synnott fund support summer research fellowships in physics. The Williams Bicentennial Psychology Scholarship Fund supports summer research fellowships in psychology. The Whitehead Scholarship Fund, a gift from John Whitehead ’76 to provide an opportunity for Williams students and faculty to interact with scientists at the prestigious Whitehead Institute, supports summer research fellowships for Williams biology students to spend the summer doing research at the Whitehead Institute. The Arnold Bernhard Foundation Endowed Summer Science Fellows Program, made possible by the generosity of Jean Buttner, Williams Trustee from 1982-1997, and the Class of 1951 Summer Research Fellowship fund supports summer research fellowships across the division.

Full or partial federal, foundation and alumni support for summer student stipends was provided by the following sources:

A luncheon is provided every Tuesday for participants in the Summer Science Research Program. Faculty members from the science departments give talks on their research at these lunches, with opportunity for discussion afterwards. The speakers this summer were:

Anne Skinner

“Basic Lab Safety at Williams College”

Amie Hane

“Elucidating the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Person-by-Environment Transactions: The Case for Infant Temperament and Maternal Caregiving Behavior”

Mihai Stoiciu

“Numerical Methods for Mathematics and Science”

Hank Art

“Vernal Pools: Things that go Croak (and Peep) in the Night”

Duane Bailey

“Bending Moore's Law”

Jason Wilder

“Adaptation to Malaria in Human Populations from Southeast Asia”

Dieter Bingemann

“Understanding the World One Molecule at a Time”

Karen Kwitter

“Where Did We Come From...and What’s That Smell?”

During the academic year, the science faculty meets for lunch on Tuesdays in the Science Center to discuss matters of interest to the sciences as a whole, and to hear informal reports on faculty research and other science developments. The following talks or discussions were held during 2006-2007.

Professor William Wootters, Physics Department, Williams College

“Negative Probabilities”

Professor Jay Pasachoff, Astronomy Department, Williams College

“Pluto: Is It a Planet?”

Professor Colin Adams, Mathematics and Statistics Department, Williams College

“Stick Knots and Molecules”

Jason Wilder, Biology Department, Williams College

“Tricks and Treats of Human Adaptation to Malaria”

Amy Gehring, Chemistry Department, Williams College

“Proteomic Characterization of a Bacterial Stress Response”

Brent Heeringa, Computer Science Department, Williams College

“Approximation Algorithms: Pretty Good Solutions to Fairly Hard Problems”

Lisa Gilbert, The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport

“The Structure of Super-fast Spread Oceanic Crust”

Wendy Raymond, Ollie Beaver, Joyce Foster, Chip Lovett

Diversity in the Sciences and Mathematics: A Progress Report from the Williams Diversity-in-Science Team

Rob Savage, Chris Warren, Biology Department and IT, Williams College

“Embryos, Genomes and Robots: Bioinformatics Meets Squishy Marine Critters at Williams and at the Marine Biological Labs”

Roger Bolton, Economics Department, Williams College

“Williams's Self Study for Accreditation”

Tiku Majumder, Physics Department, Williams College

“New Spectroscopy and ‘Exotic Physics’ in the Majumder Lab”

Richard Zare, Stanford University

“From Dust to Dust: Catching a Comet by the Tail”

Theron Hitchman, Mathematics and Statistics Department, Williams College

“Homogeneous Geometries: It Looks the Same from Here!”

Morgan McGuire, Computer Science Department

“Non-Photorealistic Rendering of Smoke and Clouds”

Lois Banta, Biology Department, Williams College

“Lunch at the New Gene Cafe: Genetic Engineering and Separation Anxiety in Cancer-Causing Bacteria”

Tom Garrity, Mathematics and Statistics Department

“Using Physics to Do Math”

In its twentieth summer in 2007, the Summer Science Program (SSP) provides an enriching and intensive five-week immersion in science, mathematics, and english for a talented group of science-oriented incoming Williams students. SSP targets members of groups that have been historically underrepresented in the sciences, and the goal of the program is to promote and encourage continuing participation by SSP students in science and science related studies at Williams and ultimately careers in research science and science education.

Twenty-two students took classes in chemistry (including a major laboratory component), biology, mathematics and english (literature and expository writing). Although not replicas of Williams’ academic year offerings, the Summer Science Program classes are taught at a college level, thus introducing participants to the rigors and demands of college academics. In addition to the regular classes, the students participated in geology laboratory and field experiments. They also engaged in a variety of extracurricular activities, including the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a weekend trip to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Enthusiasm for the program has been high. Participants have taken full advantage of the opportunity to study at Williams in the summer. As a result of the Summer Science Program, their academic year experiences have been successful and many of the students have continued their studies in science or mathematics. A significant number of former participants have returned to campus in the summertime as summer research students in science and mathematics, have become tutors for the Summer Science Program, or have secured positions elsewhere in science research institutes.

Professor Charles M. Lovett, Director of the Summer Science Program, taught the chemistry lectures and Professor David P. Richardson conducted the laboratory sessions. Professors Olga R. Beaver and Cesar Silva taught the mathematics component. Professor Wendy Raymond taught the biology lectures. Professor D.L. Smith taught the english sessions and Professor David Dethier conducted the geology in-the-field laboratory.

The Summer Science Program has been funded primarily by Williams College as part of the institution’s commitment to encourage the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences. Since 1991, SSP has received additional funding from a biological sciences grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This grant contributed support for several SSP components, and has provided summer research stipends for SSP students after their first year at Williams. Special thanks go to the many science faculty and students of Williams College who, during the summer as well as during the academic year, have contributed to the success of the program and of its participants.

The Williams College Sigma Xi Chapter has played an active role on the Williams Campus since it was founded as the Sigma Xi Club in 1969. Sigma Xi is a national society honoring and encouraging research in science. The Williams Chapter also sponsors outreach programs designed to stimulate interest in science among grade school, junior high and high school students. The officers for 2006-2007 were Professor Jay M. Pasachoff of the Astronomy Department, President, and Professor Protik Majumder of the Physics Department, Secretary/Treasurer.

During the 2006-2007 academic year, our chapter held the traditional fall and spring Sigma Xi lecture series. In the fall, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Stephen Freund spoke about his research on new software tools designed to confront software bugs. The first talk focused on the general challenges of addressing bugs in software code through the development of new tools. In the second lecture, Prof. Freund outlined some of his own work on a new tool called “Atomizer” a ‘dynamic bug finder for large systems’. In April of 2007, Assistant Professor Heather Stoll of the Geosciences department delivered two lectures on the highly topical subject of carbon dioxide and the interactions of ocean and climate. Her first lecture focused on the story which small fossils can tell us about global climate history. In her second lecture, she discussed the impact of the last great greenhouse gas release which was 55 million years ago.

The Sigma Xi Chapter sponsored a High School Science Award for a student at Mount Greylock Regional High School, Williamstown, MA, in recognition of a high level of motivation and accomplishment in science courses. This year the award was given to David Rosenthal.

One of the primary purposes of Sigma Xi is to recognize graduating science students who have demonstrated exceptional ability and promise for further contributions to the advancement of scientific research. These students are elected as Associate Members of Sigma Xi and are then inducted into the Society at a ceremony during Commencement Weekend. On Class Day, the Chapter honored 53 newly elected Associate Members from the Class of 2007 in a ceremony in the Bronfman Auditorium.  The names of this year's honorees follow and detailed descriptions of the research projects of these students are presented in the Student Abstracts section of this Report.