Category: Research

Amherst College Science Center

High Flying Adored: Whole Air Sampling Research Tracks Emissions from Fuel Leaks

students in front of airplane

Introduction This post is the third in a series highlighting the fantastic astronomy research Amherst College students have conducted this summer. For more information on the series, visit ,,this post. This week, Astronomy Department Editor William Balmer (that’s me) interviewed Joe Palmo ‘21, who interned this summer at NASA via the Student Airborn Research Program…

Food and Chemistry: An Interview with Professor O’Hara

Pat O'Hara

Professor O’Hara is the chair of the Amherst College Biochemistry-Biophysics department. She investigates aspects of the intersection of food and human biochemistry in her lab, as well as other topics of research. Outside of the lab, Professor O’Hara engages with questions relating to food in other, fascinating ways in her scholarship and teaching. I spoke…

Observing Outbursts from Orbit

planets in space

Introduction This post is the third in a series highlighting the fantastic astronomy research Amherst College students have conducted this summer. For more information on the series, visit ,,this post. This week, Astronomy Department Editor William Balmer (that’s me) interviewed Lena Treiber ’23E, who presented at the Chandra Time-Series Conference this fall. Lena attended the…

Mathematics is like Minecraft, filled with dark caves and unexplored worlds

Ivan Contreras

In his talk “Stranger Things (In Math)”, Professor Ivan Contreras sets out to explore the ‘Nether’ of mathematics: Non-commutative Algebra. In our daily lives, many of our basic operations are commutative, which means the order of the components does not affect the result. For example, 2 + 3 is the same as 3 + 2,…

Biofortification

from the roots to the endosperm

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to listen to Javier Londono ‘23 present his 3-Minute Flash Talk on the worldwide importance of biofortification. Just this past summer, Javier, a prospective biology major, worked under Professor Jeeyon Jeong in the SURF program doing research on biofortification. At the beginning of his presentation, Javier states…

Telescope Time Trials

Las Campanas Observatory

Introduction This post is the second in a series highlighting the fantastic astronomy research Amherst students have conducted this summer. For more information on the series, visit ,,this post. This week, Astronomy Department Editor William Balmer (that’s me) interviewed one of the six Follette Lab students who presented at the Colloquia. Khalid Mohamed ‘22 led…

“What We Think”: Psychology Lecture on Children’s Social-Emotional Development During COVID-19

On September 17th, 20 students hopped onto a Zoom call to learn about how COVID-19 has impacted children’s social and emotional development. Professor McQuade of the psychology department was joined by Amherst alum Adaora Achufusi ‘13. Specializing in play therapy, Achufusi works in New York as a treatment coordinator at a therapeutic preschool for children…

Accretion Machines

An aerial view of Apache Point Observatory

Introduction This post is the first of a series highlighting the fantastic summer astronomy research Amherst students conducted. For more information on the series, visit this post. This week, Astronomy Department Editor William Balmer (that’s me) interviewed three of the six Follette Lab students who presented at the Colloquium. Beck Dacus ‘22, Cailin Plunkett ‘23,…

Astronomy Summer Research Teams Take Physics Colloquia By Storm

Updated: Oct 16, 2020 On September 8th and 15th, the Physics and Astronomy Department colloquium showcased the summer research of 21 Amherst students during a series of “Flash Talks.” These three-minute presentations gave the students the opportunity to demonstrate their newfound knowledge and share their summer experiences. Despite COVID-19, students worked at a variety of labs…