Category: Departments

Amherst College Science Center

Meet Professor Wu Orr!

mona wu orr

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…

Introducing the McGeoch Fellows!

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…

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,…

Inclusivity and Diversity in STEM

On September 15th, the Biology Steering Committee held a student-led discussion on ways to make the STEM departments at Amherst more inclusive. The event was an opportunity for students to reflect on their experiences navigating STEM courses at Amherst and to call for change. The discussion consisted of a student panel with varying majors and…

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…

Supporting PEERs in Biology: An Interview with Prof. Josef Trapani

Joe Trapani

Prof. Trapani joined Amherst College in 2011. He is an Associate Professor in the Biology Department and also contributes to the Neuroscience program. He has chaired the Biology department since July this year. His research involves the use of the model organism larval zebrafish to look at how hair cells encode information which leads to…