Leo Laub '09 discovered something about himself when he came to Kenyon: He really, really likes working in a laboratory. The biology major knew he wanted to study "something science-y" when he arrived in Gambier, Ohio, but it wasn't until he found himself growing bacteria on an agar plate to test its resistance to antibiotics that he realized, "I enjoy research. You get to figure things out, be independent -- and being able to explain [a project] to people, to explain how these mechanisms work, is something I really enjoy."

Three years later, Laub is deep in a study about Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog. These little aquatic creatures are highly resistant to dioxins, chemicals that are a common byproduct of industrial waste and poisonous to humans. The study, which Laub works on with his advisor, Associate Professor of Biology Wade Powell, has the potential for ecological applications. This summer, Laub will head to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on a prestigious fellowship, where he'll learn more about the frogs' peculiar resistance.

At a large school, Laub feels, he might have just been a small frog in a big pond. Kenyon, he says, "is so small that you have these opportunities you wouldn't have elsewhere. Lab's a big part of my education here, being able to actually do science. I just can't see myself being in a giant biology class of a hundred people and remaining motivated."