William Balmer is a senior astronomy and physics double major. They took time out of their busy end-of-term schedule to talk about their thesis with the astronomy department: measuring the orbit and brightness of a young star embedded in a disk of material around another young star. The following was adapted from an email interview…
Visible even from the exterior of the Science Center building, the glass-encased upper floor laboratory spaces offer a glance into the inner workings of the research conducted in the Biology Department. Here, students are often seen working on experiments headed by professors, but they can also elect a more independent project their senior year: a…
Ingrid Wefing is a senior, a thesis student, a Psychology and Asian Languages and Civilizations double major, and an absolute delight to talk to. I sat down with Ingrid to talk about her upcoming thesis that examines the relationship between belongingness and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Did you know you wanted to study…
The belief that math is difficult or even boring is commonplace, but Audrey Rosevear, the Math Club president, doesn’t think it has to be. Math Club was created as a haven where students can explore what math looks like in research and beyond in a stakes-free environment, as well as a forum to discuss mathematical…
(adapted from a Zoom interview between Samantha Rydzewski and Sarah Lapean) Samantha Rydzewski, a computer science and math double major, took some time out of her busy schedule on March 22 to tell us about her thesis with the computer science department. She is looking at suboptimal attacks against machine learning models, and investigating how…
This article was written by Guest Reporters April Dottin-Carter’23 (WiCS President), Karen Liu’23 (WiCS Secretary and Website Content Writer), and Hope Tsai’23 (WiCS Website Content Writer). To learn more about WiCS, check out their website shown above! April Dottin-Carter ’23 believes that when people with strong, positive morals and diverse backgrounds come together to innovate…
The ,William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students, consisting of two 3-hour sessions, with 6 problems each. The exam is so difficult that the median score is usually only 0 or 1 out of 120. Ethan Spingarn, a sophomore at Amherst College, participated in the 2019 Putnam Competition…
Image source: Amherst College Faculty & Staff Page Professor Wu Orr is a new Biology Professor who joined Amherst College this year. She is teaching Biochemistry this fall and will be teaching BIO-191 Molecules, Genes, & Cells in the Spring. I spoke with Professor Wu Orr to learn more about her research and her experience…
Named in honor of Professor McGeoch, who passed away in 2019, the ,,McGeoch Fellows assist the computer science department by holding TA hours, grading assignments, and serving as a support system for other students. This month, I caught up with Lesley Zhang ‘21, Jessica Yu ‘22, Maggie Drew ‘22, and Conrad Kuklinsky ‘21. Zhang works…
The Roots of Environmental Justice Professor Ashwin Ravikumar is an assistant professor of Environmental Studies. His research interests involve deforestation in the Amazon. This semester, he is teaching a class entitled “Environmental Justice” about the intersections between environmentalism and other forms of social justice. I sat down with him (over Zoom) to talk about environmental…