Category: Issue 1.2 – Summer 2020

Amherst College Science Center

Sleep, Summer, and Susceptibility: How Childhood Lead Exposure Impacts Sleep Patterns

Staying up until 2-3AM in high school studying for AP tests, putting together presentations, and sending out club emails, I always assumed I could catch up on sleep later that week (or at the very least over the summer). After joining a sleep research lab two weeks ago, I was shocked to learn how naively…

Using Lasers to Cool Things

Hi everyone! I’m Sam Schulz and I am a rising junior physics major. On campus I play frisbee and the jazz saxophone as well as spend lots of time in the physics lounge in the science center. I am currently home in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania having completed my first week of my summer…

Follette Lab Shuts Down One Day of Research for #shutdownstem

On June 10, many SURF labs postponed that days lab work and instead educated themselves on the racism within STEM and defined a plan to commit to antiracist practices moving forward. These labs were among the over 5,000 scientists that stopped business as usual as part of the nation-wide #shutdownstem event. #Shutdownstem is, as defined…

Addressing Climate Change and Racial Justice: Best of Both Worlds

art expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Hi everyone! I am Jeanyna Garcia, a rising sophomore and an Environmental Studies major (though I have not declared yet!). I am an Ecuadorian-American student from Washington Heights, New York City. Although the pandemic has brought the entire city to an abrupt halt, there are a myriad of things New Yorkers can still do for…

Exploring New Landscapes

Hi everyone! My name is Angela and I am a rising sophomore (‘23) from Shanghai, China interested in biomedical research and computational biology. This summer, I will be having my first remote research experience as a new member of the Jaswal Lab, and I look forward to documenting my learning process through the Network. In…

Exploring the Chesapeake from Home

Updated: Jul 3, 2020 Hello! My name is Jonah Horowitz, and I’m a rising junior and chemistry major at Amherst. I’m writing from my family’s house in Alexandria, VA, where I pass the time by reading and playing the guitar. On top of these hobbies, I also just began working at the Virginia Institute of Marine…

Uncharted waters

cartoon of fish getting on bus

Hello! My name is Phyllis Oduor, and I am a rising sophomore at Amherst College. I moved to the US from Kenya in August 2019 to start my undergraduate studies. I was born and raised in Kenya from my hometown Nakuru, well-known for its pink flamingos that inhabit Lake Nakuru and its Menengai crater. This…

Doubling Down on DNA

zoom meeting screenshot

Updated: Jul 3, 2020 Hi there! My name is Joanna, and this summer I will be having my first research experience as a new member of Amherst College’s Carter Lab. I’ll also be doing my online research in two different locations; the first half will be in my hometown of Torrington, Connecticut and then in Pittsfield,…

Psychology Study Reveals the Role of Race at Amherst College and Beyond

The following article comes from Dr.Elizabeth Aries, a Psychology Professor at Amherst College where she teaches a course called Intergroup Dialogue on Race. She has conducted research on the role of race and social class in an elite college and published two books (Race and Class Matters at an Elite College, 2008;Speaking of Race and…