91̽»¨

By Ariela Buxbaum-Grice ’15

91̽»¨’s fifth annual Science Symposium showcased advanced science students and their DYO (Design Your Own) experiments in the Pritzker Science Center. For students enrolled in advanced biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science, discussing independent projects that they’ve pursued over the last several weeks is their culminating work.

At the symposium, students presented posters and conducted demonstrations. For their DYO projects, students construct their own experiments based on, but not limited to, the material covered in class and their own personal interests in a specific area of study. The project is a long-term assignment, lasting for about a month, and is a chance for students to work independently of the curriculum without heavy guidance from a teacher. Most students perform their DYO with a partner, and the project requires time outside of class.

At the Bisbee Tea, Bisbee prize-winner Deanna Ferrante (II) answers questions from peers and faculty about her research paper, “It’s All Just Black and White: The Incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan.” The Bisbee Prize honors and celebrates outstanding student research in U. S. history. Each year, 91̽»¨ faculty members teaching the U.S. History and U.S. History in the Modern World courses select honorees from among their students. Deanna is one of 13 prize-winners whose research ranged from the Dawes Act of 1887 through the Free Speech Movement.

Just like the Boston Marathon, the Charles River begins in the town of Hopkinton. It meanders 80 miles through 23 towns before it reaches the ocean in Boston Harbor. Bryan Dore, who was on campus as the Lorax Speaker for the Earth Day assembly, explained to students how the river went from one of the most polluted in the country to one of the cleanest. He is the director of the volunteer monthly monitoring program at the Charles River Watershed Association.

Mr. Dore’s team of 80 volunteers takes river samples from 35 locations once a month and uses that data to inform municipal, state, and federal agencies “the outcomes of the choices they are making” in regards to laws and policy. This year, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Charles the cleanest urban river in the country and rated it an “A” on the annual report card. In 1995, the river received a “D-.”

With a voice and delivery that showed why she is the most successful slammer in the history of National Poetry Slam competition, poet Patricia Smith read some of her work to students in King Theatre as this spring’s Bingham Visiting Writer. Known for writing from the point of view of her subjects, Patricia read a few pieces from Blood Dazzler, a powerful collection of poems where she personifies Hurricane Katrina as a woman and shows the death and destruction through the “eyes” of the storm.

“I consider myself a storyteller, and what goes hand in hand with that is witnessing,” said Ms. Smith. “And in order to witness, I have to look for an entry point into the story. And once I find that entry point, which may not be the one everyone expects, I start to shed myself. You can pretty much tell that my choice of syntax–that’s me. But I’m trying to become that person, that event, in that place as much as I can. And the stories I tend to approach are human stories.”

When Jon Chan (II) writes about science, he makes complex ideas interesting for readers, whether they routinely read science or not. This talent was recognized when Jon won third place in the Yale Scientific Magazine National Essay Competition 2014 for his piece “The Good and Bad of Bias and Prejudice in Science.” This year’s essay prompt was: How does bias affect the course of scientific research?

“Before I started writing the essay, I always thought the scientific method was foolproof,” says Jon, who is taking both Honors Biology and Advanced Chemistry this year. “I thought you publish your results, your peers review it and that the system worked. But as I did my research for the piece, I found out that scientists, just like everybody, have deeply held views. It’s hard to let go of something that you thought was true your whole life. Cultural bias also plays into it. For example scientific studies on acupuncture in Asia are usually positive where as in the West, the conclusions usually say it is an ineffective treatment.”

Dr. Sarah Das, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, spoke with students about her work studying large polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Dr. Das, this year’s Science Assembly speaker, says that as the earth gets warmer, the ice melt is causing a rise in sea levels and this melt has accelerated in the past couple of decades. One of the research questions she explores is: How will polar ice sheets respond to future climate change?

“The past can help us understand the future,” said Dr. Das, whose field work involves measuring physical and chemical characteristics of ice layers by digging snow pits and drilling ice cores. Science faculty member Matt Bingham spent two weeks last spring working with Dr. Das’s research team on the Disko Bay Ice Coring Project in Greenland. This past winter, students used techniques from that project to conduct research on ice formations right here on 91̽»¨’s campus.

Religious scholar Dr. Reza Aslan, who wrote the bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, spoke with students as this year’s Class of 1952 Endowed Speaker for Religious Understanding. Dr. Aslan travels the world speaking to people about religion, and particularly about understanding religious conflicts.

“A huge debate is going on in the United States about how responsible Islam is for acts of violence,” says Dr. Aslan. “As with most debates, it’s become very polarized and simplistic, the conversation does not have a lot of nuance. But if we are going to understand what is going on in the world and, more importantly, if we are going to address it and come up with a way to deal with the role of religion in violence around the world, we have to bring nuance to it, we have to have a better understanding of what religion is.”