Kudos! Student, Faculty, Staff Achievements for Early Spring 2025
19 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
In its second meeting of the academic year, the Hamilton chapter of Phi Beta Kappa elected 19 members of the Class of 2025. They join 10 seniors elected in October. The new electees are:
- Lane Barsh - Anthropology
- Georgia Brown - Psychology
- Megan Case - Biology
- Deanna Durben - Psychology and Sociology
- Alexandra Ennis - Mathematics and Sociology
- Jennifer Gidicsin - Neuroscience
- Connor Grand - Geosciences
- Charles Haberstock - Economics and Geosciences
- Peter Jones - Physics
- Thomas Kantrowitz - Economics
- Akay Kaya - Economics and History
- Eve Karmozyn - Psychology
- Dasomie Kim - Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
- Ainsley Novack - Government
- Alyssa Samuels - Psychology and Theatre
- Carter Segal - Biology
- Claire Williams - Geosciences
- Lecen Zhang - Economics and Mathematics
- Ziyi Zhou - Economics and Psychology
Mathematicians Present in Seattle
Five Mathematics students and Professor of Mathematics Rob Kantrowitz gave talks and posters at the Joint Mathematics Meetings that took place in Seattle in January.
Students presenting posters were: Layla Jarrahy ’25, Generalizations of Circulant Graphs, Their Properties, and Applications to Quantum Error-Correcting Codes; Max Klivans ’25, Pointed Quandle Coloring Quivers of Linkoids; and Oscar Lledo Osborn ’26, On the Stability of the Euler Characteristic Transform.
Talks were given by Mitch Johnson ’26, Investigating Constructions of Macaulay Posets and Rings, and Sam Trombone ’25, Orthogonal Polynomials and Perfect State Transfer on Cycle Graphs. Kantrowitz also gave a talk titled What does the condition f''' ≥ 0 mean for f?
Biswas ’27 Receives Scholarship
Chayti Biswas ’27 was awarded a USA2Holland scholarship grant to participate in The Netherlands-America Foundation (NAF) program this summer. The grant funds internships for high-achieving, low-income American college students. Biswas said, “What I found interesting about the scholarship was the amount of autonomy recipients had in choosing their summer internships. The NAF provides support in finding employers in the Netherlands. My interdisciplinary concentration is psycholinguistics, and I aspire to work with kids and conduct research. I’m currently exploring different research labs across Holland. I am excited about the new experiences I will have this summer.”
Psychology Students Present Findings
Biswas was also among Hamilton students who attended the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention in Denver in February. Four students gave posters of their summer research conducted with Associate Professor of Psychology Keelah Williams.
Biswas and Matthew Dooley ’27 presented “Disgust and Distrust: How disgust shapes trust toward in-group and out-group members;” Madison Goodman-Leong ’25 presented “Status approach, relative comparisons, and stress;” and Emily Pogozelski ’26 presented “Effects of framing in criminal punishment.”
Another group of students conducted research with Professor of Psychology Jen Borton during the summer and also presented a poster. Yunuo Yao ’26, Rachel Zou ’26, Naomi Andrew ’25, and Hannah Vogt ’25 shared “Self-compassion and reactions to being confronted with a microaggression.”
Inaugural Trudeau Institute Biosciences Researchers
Chrissy Crespo ’25 and Alinur Jaboldinov ’26 are in Saranac Lake, N.Y., this semester, studying in the inaugural Trudeau Institute bioscience semester pilot program. Hamilton’s Global Learning office spent more than a year developing the program with the Trudeau Institute and Arcadia College of Global Studies. Associate Professor of Chemistry Max Majireck has a research affiliation with Trudeau and was instrumental in helping with the launch. The program is research intensive, trains students in NIH research protocols and standards, and engages them in a research project working with the Trudeau research team. Crespo is a biochemistry/molecular biology major, and Jaboldinov is a biochemistry/microbiology and mathematics double major.
U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute
Carolina Suero Pino ’27 led 11 students from La Vanguardia (Hamilton’s Latine affinity club) on a fully funded, four-day trip to the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute in Chicago in February. The mission of the institute is to fulfill the promises and principles of democracy and empower the Hispanic community and similarly marginalized groups by promoting education, leadership development, research, and civic engagement.
Students who attended with Pino were Marcela Rondon ’27, Carol Daquilema ’28, Lucas Andia ’28, Melanie Santana ’26, Natalia Estella, Darian Torres ’27, Paula Vilato Garcia ’26, Ana Paula Reig ’27, Jaylaan Limon Ixehualt ’26, Ariana Morales ’26, and Osmel Vazquez ’26. The students’ travel was supported by the Renyi Fund.
STEM students at Yale African Innovation Symposium
Six Hamilton students attended the Yale African Innovation Symposium in February, including Megan “Ru” Lambert ’27, Isonah Ngouabe Dlodlo ’27, Delyne Tapa ’28, Dylan Ngwa ’28, Ritchie Registre ’28, and Palmer Jr Yongka Yerima ’28.
The symposium, aimed at undergraduates, graduates, and young professionals who are passionate about innovation in Africa, is designed to move beyond the standard discussion of Africa’s challenges by focusing on the creation of actionable solutions. The conference emphasizes innovative thinking and problem-solving as an important avenue for change.
Preserving Local History
Lena Klink ’25, a LITS research intern, is working on a digitizing project for the Clinton Historical Society. She’s digitizing over 80 news clippings written by Dick Williams, who has written about local history for over 60 years. The society plans to publish a collection of some of his many articles on local and regional history.
Hamilton Changemakers
Hamilton was recognized as a Top 25 Changemaker for 2024 by Fill it Forward in its Community Leadership category. Recipients of this award showcase a genuine enthusiasm for engaging and uplifting their community. This award commends organizations that demonstrate leadership in sustainability and environmental stewardship. Last summer’s sustainability interns — Austin Cipriano ’25, Shey Sanges ’26, and Marcela Rondon ’27 — drove this initiative from the idea stage through implementation.
Black Gold Earns Honors
Emma Kerkman ’25 was first runner-up in the 2025 Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing for her story Black Gold. The award goes to the best unpublished and unsold science fiction or fantasy short story submitted by a fulltime undergraduate college student. Kerkman won the Dell Award in 2024 for her short story Lolo’s Last Run.
Read about what Hamilton’s faculty and staff members have been working on since the beginning of the academic year — research grants, published books, delivered papers, positions at national organizations, and more.
Kudos! is a roundup that highlights noteworthy student, faculty and staff news, including awards, published scholarly work, presentations at regional or national conferences, upcoming or recent media appearances, and other accolades. To be considered for the next edition, please send pertinent information to pr@hamilton.edu.
More Student Stories
How a Math Student Found a More Efficient Way to Groom Campus Ski Trails
As snow falls on Hamilton’s campus, many students take the opportunity to try a new winter activity: cross-country skiing. Students can rent skis from the Glen House and take them out on the cross-country ski course, located behind the Taylor Science Center. With heavy snow, this course requires maintenance to ensure a safe place for beginner skiers, and that maintenance requires time and fuel.
Experiential Learning: Education Outside the Classroom
At Hamilton College, learning transcends geographic boundaries and traditional methods, providing students with unique and memorable experiences that bring their material to life.
