Kenyon Students Spend Summer with Science

GAMBIER, Ohio (July 12, 2004) Although the academic year has ended, Kenyon is alive with students conducting scientific research. Participants in the 2004 Summer Science Scholars program are exploring issues in anthropology, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and psychology. Armed with $3,000 fellowship awards, these students are getting in-depth experience creating research plans, executing projects, and preparing results for publication and presentation.

"One of the reasons I came to Kenyon was the Summer Science program," says Erica Lundberg, Class of 2006, a resident of Maple Plain, Minnesota. Her project, "Sex Ratios in Bluebirds," allows her to study animal behavior in the field. "Fieldwork is much different than a lab study because you cannot control the subject as you can often do in a lab," she says. "So far, it's been a great experience."

Emmie Dengler, Class of 2005, who is completing a project titled "Expressional and Translational Activity of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptors in Xenopus laevis," is in her second year as a Summer Science Scholar. "Summer Science is giving me the chance to focus just on my research without the other distractions that the academic year brings," says Dengler, who comes from Horseheads, New York. She is working with Assistant Professor of Biology Wade Powell to test how exposure to toxic substances affects Xenopus laevis, a species of frog.

Associate Professor of Biology M. Siobhan Fennessy believes the Summer Science Program is an invaluable experience for students. "It gives students a chance to conduct their own research work closely with the science faculty and fellow students. The program is really a model of how professional scientists work. Many of our students use it as a launching pad for graduate or medical school or other scientific work."

Summer Science projects may be funded by the College or through research grants obtained by science faculty members. Students may also apply for funding for supplies used in experiments