Category: Students

Student-Athlete Researches Exercise Response in Fruit Flies

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Marco Savone Holds Research Report on Fruit Flies
Marco Savone ’22 completed his Senior Integrated
Project (SIP) as part of a research study on exercising
fruit flies at Wayne State Medical School.

While many student-athletes at Kalamazoo College are interested in health and wellness, there might only be one who has applied that interest not only to sports, classes, externships and travel, but also to fruit flies. 

Marco Savone ’22 is a chemistry major and Spanish minor on the pre-med track who played football at K for four years. His first year at K, he completed an externship refining nutrition plans for a local health company. COVID-19 scrapped his study abroad plans, but he was able to make a medical volunteering trip to Costa Rica.  

In summer 2021, Savone completed his Senior Integrated Project (SIP) by participating in a three-month research study at Wayne State Medical School with exercising fruit flies. 

“It sounds bizarre at first,” Savone said. “They’re one of the very few labs in the country that does this. They want to apply the fruit fly model to human models because fruit flies have about 60 percent of their genome similar to humans and share many genes that are related to those in the human exercise response. Their goal is to be able to apply what they find with fruit flies to mice and rodents, and eventually human studies with exercise physiology.” 

Fruit flies also make good test subjects because they are cheap and have short lifespans. Within 60 days, researchers can see the effects of exercise over a full lifespan. 

“Humans live a long time so it’s hard to look at a human model in regards to how exercise affects the health span,” Savone said. “Ideally you would need a longitudinal study.” 

Marco-Savone-in-Scrubs
Walker Chung ’22 (left) and Marco Savone ’22 were
part of a medical volunteer trip to Costa Rica.

Savone took part in a study exploring the relationship between exercise and two gene-encoded proteins, myostatin and follistatin, that are involved in muscle mass development. Through a process called RNAi, or gene silencing, one group of fruit flies had myostatin basically eliminated in their systems, while a second group underwent the same process with follistatin. 

Within each group, Savone exercised one sub-group and did not exercise another. 

“We had lots of vials and they were all labeled with stickers,” Savone said. “We had this machine that would move the vials up and then they would drop down, and when the flies would feel the impact, they would fall to the bottom of their vial and then they would start climbing up to the top. This process would be repeated to act like a treadmill for the flies.”  

The team would measure the speed and endurance of the fruit flies over time. 

“One overarching thing that I did find was that we did see exercise responses with the two groups of flies,” Savone said. “We tested them for how long they would basically run, how fast they would fatigue. Then we also looked at their climbing speed to see how fast they would climb up their vial and we did see that exercise improved climbing speed and endurance.” 

While Savone experienced some success, he also learned from setbacks in the research. The RT-PCR test to verify how much of each gene was expressed in the fruit flies did not work, and Savone had to pivot to another type of testing. 

Marco-Savone-with-football-team
Marco Savone ’22 (right) values his experience as a
student-athlete for the lessons he learned
in teamwork, leadership and time management.

“I was really bummed that it didn’t work out,” he said. “But I was told by my mentor that it’s a hard thing to get used to and you need a lot of practice. I didn’t feel as bad when he told me that. 

“Research is so unpredictable. You have to learn how to troubleshoot when something goes wrong, and there are so many outcomes that can happen. There may be one singular thing you want to find, but you may find different things you didn’t even expect to see. That was really eye opening for me.” 

Savone sees immense benefit in gaining hands-on research experience outside of K to bring back and apply to classwork. He also benefitted from mentorship and collaboration with the lab staff, mainly Ph.D. students, and from a presentation he gave at Wayne State that boosted his confidence when presenting his SIP at the chemistry symposium. 

His experiences at Wayne State also came into play in January, when Savone started a short-term contracted position with Kalamazoo lab Genemarkers, LLC, which had pivoted during the pandemic from skincare-product testing to COVID-19 testing. 

His job involved separating test tube vials and preparing them for RT-PCR testing, the same type of testing he had attempted on the fruit flies at Wayne State. Savone also helped chart data for the tests.  

“They were just starting to train me on other things, but unfortunately, since I was a contract employee, they had to let me go when the COVID numbers went down significantly,” Savone said. “It was interesting to see how that whole process works behind the scenes of the COVID testing and it was a rewarding experience.” 

After graduating this June, Savone plans to study for the MCAT in the summer and take at least two gap years to work in clinical research before attending medical school, perhaps back at Wayne State. 

Looking back on the past four years, Savone sees how far he’s come. He credits his growth to the academics at K, his hands-on experiences at Wayne State and Genemarkers, and the lessons in teamwork and time management he learned as a student-athlete. 

“My experiences wouldn’t have been possible without going to K,” Savone said. “If I had to redo the whole thing again, I would do it the same.” 

Global Study with K Ties: Humans Alter Evolution

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Binney-Girdler-with-Clover
Professor of Biology Binney Girdler and Otto Kailing,
an Oberlin College student from Kalamazoo, were
among the volunteers who collected white clover for
the Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE).

Read the Science cover story

Two Kalamazoo College biology faculty members, a K student and an Oberlin College student from Kalamazoo were among the volunteers who participated in a global research project that proves humans are affecting evolution through urbanization and climate change.  

Professor of Biology Binney Girdler, Associate Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas, Ben Rivera ’18 and Otto Kailing contributed to the Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE), published Thursday in the journal Science. The investigation shows that white clover plants found in Kalamazoo, for example, will have more in common with others in similar cities around the world than those in rural regions, even local ones. That’s evident because the study shows that clover in many cities produce less hydrogen cyanide as a defense mechanism against herbivores with herbivores being less abundant in cities. Other cities showed no gradient, perhaps because hydrogen cyanide increases clovers’ tolerance to water stress, signaling an environmental driver of evolution prompted by humans with increasing temperatures, additional pollutants and less water.

“We’ve known about these differences for at least a decade now, but it’s always been researched in small or very localized studies, comparing rural versus urban environments,” Salinas said. “The novelty of this work is that it’s being replicated across lots of cities and gradients, most with similar results.”

Binney Girdler with Evolution Project Data
Professor of Biology Binney Girdler was among 287
scientists who collected data for the Global Urban
Evolution Project.

White clover was chosen for GLUE’s research because it’s one of the few organisms present in almost every city. Girdler collected the clover locally along Westnedge Avenue near the Kalamazoo River to do her part alongside 286 other scientists in 26 countries who gathered more than 110,000 clover samples. 

Those samples—after being frozen, ground up and analyzed through sample paper and reactive compounds—helped researchers sequence more than 2,500 clover genomes to reveal the genetic basis for their changes in urban areas. The massive dataset produced from the project will be analyzed for years to come, making Thursday’s publication just the beginning of GLUE’s research. With scientists knowing that humans drive evolution in cities across the planet, they can start developing strategies to better conserve rare species, allowing the species to better adapt to urban environments, while scientists also prevent unwanted pests and diseases from doing the same. 

“I think the local interest is that this shows we’re not isolated,” Girdler said. “This shows that climate change is real and urbanization is real. This is a good study to show humans have had a huge impact, not just locally, but globally. There’s nothing unique about the Kalamazoo case. We only understand the impact of it when it’s embedded within this giant global study of 160 other cities.” 

Marc Johnson and Rob Ness, both biology faculty members at the University of Toronto Mississauga, spearheaded the global project along with James Santangelo, a Ph.D. student. Salinas and Girdler both expressed admiration for that group for organizing the work and maintaining communication throughout the project. 

“It’s fun to be a part of it,” Girdler said. “It represents what I think science has to give to the world. It’s connective and it helps us figure out what we should be doing through a global effort. It made me an optimist in the middle of the pandemic.” 

“We did it because this was a cool idea and it was nice to be able to help,” Salinas said. “It made me feel like a citizen scientist who added to the body of science without having to worry about prestige.” 

Student, Advocate Earns Newman Civic Fellowship

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Newman Civic Fellowship Recipient Thomas Lichtenberg
Thomas Lichtenberg ’23 will further develop his civic engagement
skills by joining the 2022-23 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows.

A passion for community engagement and political activism has driven course selection, campaign work and internships for Thomas Lichtenberg ’23. Now, that commitment has helped Lichtenberg join the 2022-23 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. 

The fellowship is a year-long program through Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit that advances public service in higher education. The fellowship recognizes and supports students who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing their communities. The 2022-23 cohort includes 173 students from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico.  

College presidents and chancellors nominate one student from their campus for the fellowship, based on the student’s community engagement and potential for public leadership.  

Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez’s statement praised Lichtenberg for being “a student leader who has dedicated his college career to advocating for civil rights, centering his work on advocating for those with disabilities and the expansion of mental health resources. Thomas has focused his academic journey on understanding political and social systems, data analysis and advocacy.” 

Lichtenberg got his start in community involvement as a child in Farmington, Michigan, when his mother started signing him up for service programs, foremost among them the Junior Optimists. 

“I am autistic so social skills didn’t come as naturally to me as they did to everyone,” Lichtenberg said. “Going to things like service clubs was a great way for me to interact with others as well as do some good for the community.” 

In his first year at K, Lichtenberg interned with the Jon Hoadley campaign for Congress before taking on a paying job for the campaign. He found inspiration in the youth involvement and high energy of the campaign, as well as Hoadley’s commitment to progressive issues. 

A double major in political science and philosophy with a math minor, Lichtenberg has worked with a political science professor on coding polling information and as a philosophy teaching assistant. 

In fall 2021, he completed a strategic communications internship with the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C., which works to protect and advance the civil rights of adults and children with mental illness or developmental disabilities.   

Between work and internships, Lichtenberg has sought out classes at K to broaden and strengthen his political perspective. His favorite course, on constitutional law, gave him the opportunity to write case briefs. He chose to focus on legal methods and precedent that could be used to guarantee civil rights to a greater extent. 

The Newman Fellowship provides students with a year of training and networking opportunities to develop personal, professional and civic growth. Lichtenberg is especially looking forward to trainings on optimizing social activism. 

“I used to be involved in programs like the Junior Optimists, which really didn’t take advantage of that and didn’t recruit new members,” Lichtenberg said. “A lot of the work I’ve done since then has been in organizations that already had that down. I’d like to get that perspective on how to build that movement up for myself.” 

Lichtenberg hopes he can apply what he learns in those trainings to revitalize the pre-law club at K as well as the Star Trek Club he started in 2019. He admires how new iterations of Star Trek are tackling complex issues, and sees potential for great discussions of social activism in television. 

He also hopes to intern at the 9th Circuit Court in Kalamazoo this summer and intern for the Leadership Conference in the fall to work on voting and civil rights policy.  

His Senior Integrated Project is still in the planning stages, but Lichtenberg hopes to focus on mental health law on college campuses. 

“When I was working at Bazelon, I found some colleges that did not follow the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Rehabilitation Act,” Lichtenberg said. “It was shocking, as a student with autism, to see that such atrocities could be committed.” 

After graduating from K, Lichtenberg plans to attend law school. For now, he looks forward to continuing his activism with support from the Newman Fellowship. 

“I was honestly surprised that it was me who got the fellowship,” Lichtenberg said. “I know that K has a vibrant social activism community. I feel honored that they chose me to continue that legacy. It’s a lot to look up to, but I’m excited to try to meet their expectations and I hope that I do.” 

Chemistry Student’s Research Could Boost Antibiotics

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Chemistry Student Ola Bartolik Performing Research
Research conducted by Ola Bartolik ’22 at K has possible
implications for a new approach to antibiotics.

Ola Bartolik ’22 has an intrinsic curiosity about the importance chemistry plays in biology, specifically its role in neurodevelopment and neurological disease. Her high school interests in chemistry led her to apply for Kalamazoo College’s strong chemistry program, where she has been exploring the relationship between chemical structure and antimicrobial activity.

Her research in the lab of Blakely Tresca, assistant professor of chemistry, has possible implications for the development of new antibiotics, which is an urgent need in today’s medical field.

“There is an antibiotic crisis because we’re not finding new antibiotics and there is so much antibiotic resistance,” Bartolik said. “It’s becoming more and more of a problem as time goes by.”

Bartolik works with peptoids, which are man-made compounds similar to peptides, the building blocks of proteins. She is experimenting with adding different halogens to the peptoids to see how that changes the structure and if that plays a role in making the peptoid more anti-microbial.

Two years ago, Tresca saw in Bartolik the first two things he looks for in students—a spark of interest in organic chemistry and an excitement to make molecules in the lab—and invited her to join his lab. There, she discovered that she loves thinking about how research can lead to new questions, solve problems and apply to daily life.

“She has the drive to take ownership of a project and lead it in new directions,” Tresca said. “The project she’s working on right now is one she designed herself and has been leading, which is amazing even for a senior student.”

Bartolik is always prepared, able to work independently and thoughtful about science in both the lab and the classroom, Tresca said.

Ola Bartolik ’22 has worked in the research lab of Blakely Tresca,
assistant professor of chemistry, for two years.

“She is almost always the first person to jump up with an answer, which shows how much she’s thinking about what we’re talking about in class,” Tresca said. “I appreciate that she’s always willing to take a guess even if she’s not sure she’s right. They’re not easy questions and they’re things we don’t necessarily know the answer to, so it’s important to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and thinking through the science, which I really see with Ola.”

Tresca has been incredibly supportive in and out of the lab, Bartolik said, helping her apply to scholarships that have made her K experience possible.

“Ola has taught me as much as I’ve taught her, in terms of supporting students, helping them find opportunities and pursue those opportunities even if it’s something they feel like is a stretch,” Tresca said. “Ola is a fantastic person and a fantastic student. It’s been amazing working with her and I’m very excited to see what she does next.”

The support of both faculty and other students at K has been pivotal to Bartolik’s success. Her experiences at an all-girls high school were empowering as well. 

Bartolik values the open curriculum at K that has allowed her to choose only courses that interested her, which have ranged from chemistry and biology to literature and philosophy. Even in a sophomore seminar named Poetry as Survival, Bartolik found connections to her science interests as she considered the relationship between coping with difficult life experiences and stress-induced triggers of disease. 

“I always had this interest in neuroscience and how the brain works,” she said. “I was interested in the connection between chemistry and neuroscience and how it all works. I like looking at things on a smaller scale, a micro scale. If you change this one thing, what does it do to the whole system?”

For her Senior Integrated Project, Bartolik worked in the lab of Paul Jenkins at the University of Michigan. She investigated an epilepsy associated mutation and how it may impact critical protein-protein interactions necessary for neuronal signaling. 

Bartolik will graduate this year with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a biochemistry concentration and a psychology minor. She plans to attend graduate school to study neuroscience.

She is interested in studying the effects of environment and mutations on brain development and pathways, and the relationship between problems in those pathways and neurodegenerative diseases.

“Neuroscience programs are really hard to get into, especially when you don’t come from a neuroscience-heavy background with a lot of neuroscience research,” Bartolik said. “The fact that I even have options, I think that tells you how incredible the chemistry department is here and how we’re able to pursue things that don’t have to necessarily relate directly to what we did at K.”

Fulbright Again Honors K as a Top Producer

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Logo Says Fulbright Student Program Top Producer 2021-22
K has six representatives from the class of 2021 in the U.S.
Student Program, placing the College among the
top-producing bachelor’s institutions.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced Monday that Kalamazoo College is among the top producers of Fulbright recipients for the 2021-22 academic year.

K has six representatives from the class of 2021 in the U.S. Student Program, leading to the honor for the fourth time in the past five years. K is the only college in Michigan to earn the distinction in the bachelor’s institution category.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships to graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists so they may teach English, perform research or study abroad for one academic year. Many candidates apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program as graduating seniors, though alumni may apply as well. Graduating seniors apply through their institution. Alumni can apply through their institution or as at-large candidates. K has one alumni representative this year from the class of 2013.

K’s representatives in 2021-22 and their host countries are:

  • Helen Pelak ’21, Australia
  • Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21, Germany
  • Sophia Goebel ’21, Spain
  • Molly Roberts ’21, France
  • Margaret Totten ’21, Thailand
  • Nina Szalkiewicz ’21, Austria
  • Evelyn Rosero ’13, South Korea
Fulbright recipient Katherine Miller-Purrenhage in Germany
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage studied abroad in Germany and
has returned there on a Fulbright award through the U.S.
Student Program.

“K’s consistent recognition through the renowned Fulbright program confirms that our students have the abilities required to earn these transformational global experiences,” Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “We’re proud of these students and the terrific faculty and staff who enable them to make an impact throughout the world.”

About the Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 380,000 participants, chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, with opportunities to exchange ideas and contribute to solutions to shared international concerns. More than 1,900 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 fields of study are offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English and conduct research abroad each year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in more than 140 countries throughout the world.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State, funded by an annual appropriation from Congress to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education.

The Fulbright Program also awards grants to U.S. scholars, teachers and faculty to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, about 4,000 foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research and teach foreign languages.

Hundreds of Birds Plus Thousands of Miles Equals Student’s Big Year

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Will Keller with a camera taking pictures in a field
Will Keller ’23 will offer a presentation regarding his
Big Year in birding to the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, February 28.
LeContes Sparrow at Whitefish Point Big Year of Birding
Will Keller ’23 documented more than 300 varieties of birds across Michigan
including a LeConte’s sparrow at Whitefish Point near Paradise while
challenging himself to a Big Year of birding. All photos by Will Keller.

Will Keller ’23 had a Big Year in 2021 and he’s ready to tell the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo about it.

For bird enthusiasts like Keller, a biology and philosophy double major from Kalamazoo, a Big Year is a personal challenge or an informal competition to spot and identify as many bird species as possible within a calendar year in a specific geographic area. Although he’s always had an interest in birding and completed a Big Year with a mentor in 2012, 2021 was the first time he attempted one by himself thanks to his pursuits during the pandemic triggering a desire.

“In the spring of 2020, I was back at my parents’ house, where I had access to a car,” Keller said. “Attending K for me was completely online and asynchronous. Every day, from sunup to sundown, I was driving across the state, and then I would do my classwork at night. I woke up the next day and did the exact same thing. I didn’t even make plans for Saturday, or Friday night for that matter, because I knew I wanted to be up at 7 a.m. and bird until sundown.”

Big Year of Birding Roseate-Spoonbill-at-Washtenaw
Roseate spoonbill in Washtenaw County, Michigan
Big Year of Birding Rufous-Hummingbird-at-Saginaw
Rufous hummingbird in Saginaw, Michigan

Such passions helped him set a goal of documenting 300 species of birds in 2021, all within Michigan’s borders, a benchmark he exceeded by finding 311 varieties. Keller doesn’t know exactly how far he drove to accomplish that feat, although he estimates he traveled more than 5,000 miles just in trips to Whitefish Point, an area on Lake Superior near Paradise, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula, more than 350 miles from Kalamazoo.

“It amazes me when I think about how high gas prices are right now, but I’m driving every weekend,” Keller said. “I’m often either in Holland or St. Joseph. Then, if I’m not at Whitefish Point, I’ll sometimes end up on the east side of the state. If I’m chasing a specific bird, I might even end up in Marquette County. On Thanksgiving in 2020, my buddy and I drove from Kalamazoo to Copper Harbor, which is at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula so we could find a Cassin’s finch.”

If driving about 600 miles to Copper Harbor seems random, you might be surprised. There’s a strategy to birding through a Big Year that begins with a list of birds that can commonly be spotted in Michigan. Along with those, it’s important to know the migrant varieties that pass through the state.

“You get about 295 to 300 birds you know you’ll see if you’re birding every weekend and maybe a little during the week,” Keller said. “Then there’s a range of about 40 to 45 birds that are not Michigan resident birds. They don’t breed here and they don’t regularly migrate here. They only show up in Michigan as vagrants, and to be really competitive in a Big Year, you need to make sure you’re getting a large portion of those potential vagrants.”

Big Year of Birding Sprauges-Pipit-at-Whitefish-Point
Sprague’s pipit at Whitefish Point near Paradise, Michigan

Some of those vagrants stop in areas known as migrant traps.

“It’s not necessarily that the habitat in a migrant trap makes it really good for birds, but it’s the only good habitat for a three- or four-mile radius around it, especially if it’s less than 100 acres,” Keller said. “What you get then is a high concentration of these migrant birds.”

The best migrant trap for Keller is Tiscornia Park at the St. Joseph River with Benton Harbor to the north and the city of St. Joseph to the south. Thanks to its geography, the area attracts water birds and birds that migrate south. He also closely watches areas such as the Muskegon Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has a large lake and an unimpeded shoreline.

Big Year of Birding Mississippi-Kite-at-Cherry-Hill-Nature-Preserve-in-Washtenaw
Mississippi kite at Cherry Hill Nature Preserve in Washtenaw County, Michigan

For even rarer birds, Keller relies on modern technology, especially eBird, an app that aggregates information and sends alerts on what birds are being found by spotters, when and where. If Keller believes a spotter is reputable, he will drive to a bird’s reported location to find it.

Big Year in Birding Ash-Throated Flycatcher in Paradise
Ash-throated flycatcher in Paradise, Michigan

Such tools and strategies allowed Keller to find birds from an ash-throated fly catcher to a Roseate spoonbill in numbers from one to 60 across the state including some species that are rare in Michigan.

“I was surprised that I reached my goal of 300 so quickly in early September,” Keller said. “I had a lot of time after that to focus on a few of the rarer birds. In October, I was birding with some friends at Holland State Park in this campground, and we came across a bird that we first thought was a late orchard oriole, which was cool in its own right, because it really shouldn’t be here past August. And then we followed it around to get better looks at it, and it actually turned out to be a western tanager, which really doesn’t belong within 500 miles of here. It’s not a mind-boggling record, but it’s something I didn’t expect to find. It’s fair to say I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to find one of the biggest highlights of the year.”

Keller will present his findings to the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 28.

“I’m going to go through some birds that I stumbled across, some birds that I chased and some epic stories of driving six hours at a time, covering 450 miles,” Keller said. “I think there are even some funny stories of ways that I’ve hurt myself in 2021, so it’s going to be interesting.”

Professor, Student Enable Random Acts of Kindness at Dow

Posted on
Warm and Fuzzy wall for random acts of kindness
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo and Hannah Hong ’22
helped students, faculty and staff pursue random acts of kindness with a wall of
warm-and-fuzzy messages to solve the winter blahs.

Some thoughtful planning from Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo provided the students, faculty and staff at Kalamazoo College’s Dow Science Center with methods for solving the winter blahs that just might inspire you today, on Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Let’s face it. Winter has been difficult for most people in higher education, especially in the Midwest.

“I personally don’t like February in Michigan,” said Arias-Rotondo, who is fondly known on campus as Dr. DAR. “You’re sick of the cold, you’re sick of the snow and the lack of sunlight is hitting you. With COVID added to that mix, it’s been rough.”

As a result, she wanted to do something nice in February to serve as a pick-me-up for as many of her colleagues and students as possible.

“I was trying to think about what the chemistry department does throughout the year,” she said. “We dress up for Halloween and we have some activities closer to the summer, but we usually don’t have anything planned for the winter.”

That’s when Arias-Rotondo remembered that Hannah Hong ’22, inspired by Hong’s participation in a PossePlus retreat, developed a wall for warm-and-fuzzy messages last summer at Dow, where the students, faculty and staff—relatively lonely with limited numbers of people on campus—could post appreciative cards and messages to their peers.

“I was trying to figure out how can we bring some joy to the month, and with Valentine’s Day, I thought about bringing back the Warm and Fuzzies for the whole department,” Arias-Rotondo said.

Hong was thrilled with the idea. She readily posted a “Warm and Fuzzies” banner complete with entertaining chemistry puns appropriate for the holiday such as “We share a strong bond” with a drawing of a bond between atoms and “You’re the brightest person I’ve ‘xenon’ this planet.”

When the project launched, some feared it wouldn’t have much participation, but it was a hit. Within days the glass window outside the red couch room on the chemistry department’s floor was covered with fan mail intended for students, faculty and staff. That fan mail was collected on Valentine’s Day and distributed to their intended recipients, spreading cheer.

“It was a very inexpensive thing to do,” Arias-Rotondo said. “The cards were about $7 and it’s even cheaper if you do it with Post-It Notes. You could see how excited everyone was about them. It would be so fun to make this a campus wide thing. Maybe we could spread it next year to the Hicks Student Center with a bunch of different banners and cards. I think the students would really buy into it.”

Random Acts of Kindness Day, which for some involves a week of activities, encourages participants to make the world a better place by sharing light to make kindness a part of our everyday lives. Perhaps others can draw their own inspiration, today or any day, from Arias-Rotondo and her students and colleagues.

“This felt to me like buying that perfect present for someone,” she said. “You’re so eager to see them open it. I’m happy that people thought it was a good idea and that students were writing all these different cards and getting excited about them.”

Women in Science: Student’s Research Signals Trouble With Climate Change for Fish

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Grace Hancock ’22 and her senior integrated project (SIP) are proving that something fishy is going on with the rising water temperatures caused by climate change.

Hancock, a biology major and Spanish minor from Portland, Oregon, recently conducted her SIP in the fish ecology lab at K with guidance from Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas. Through it, she administered an analysis of Atlantic silverside fish, foragers that grow to be no longer than 6 inches in length, which exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination.

“When the temperature is generally colder, the fish produce more females,” Hancock said. “When it’s warmer, they produce more males because the females need to reach a bigger size before they hit sexual maturity.”

Portrait of Grace Hancock
Grace Hancock ’22
Grace Hancock Analyzing Fish
Through the Fish Ecology Lab at Kalamazoo College, Grace Hancock ’22 analyzed Atlantic silverside fish and how climate change is threatening their reproductive patterns.
Grace Hancock Measures a Fish with a Ruler
Grace Hancock ’22 measures a fish during her survey work as an intern at Sarett Nature Center.

Such a process is nature’s way of ensuring optimal numbers of males and females along with ideal conditions for breeding. However, that only works if their water temperatures follow seasonal patterns that are unaffected by climate change. As a result, climate change can cause problems for not only a variety of temperature-dependent sex determination-exhibiting fish, but humans as well.

“Skewed sex ratios in populations are crazy to monitor because they mean there aren’t as many viable mates for them and it’s dangerous for the species,” Hancock said. “I can see how these fish are going to need our help and how climate change needs to slow down if we want to continue to explore and work with these resources that we have in our oceans. If some fish are struggling and some are not, it will create an imbalance.”

Grace Hancock taking notes in the fish lab
Grace Hancock conducted her senior integrated project in the fish ecology lab at K.
Grace Hancock works at a computer in the fish ecology lab - women in science
Grace Hancock ’22 examined Atlantic silverside fish in her senior integrated project.
Atlantic silverfish in a petri dish
Atlantic silverfish
Grace Hancock analyzing Atlantic silverfish women in science
Grace Hancock ’22 determined through her senior integrated project that climate change could skew fish populations.

Thanks to her research and her passion for science, Hancock is a great example of someone the United Nations is celebrating today, February 11, on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The day, first marked in 2015, encourages women scientists and targets equal access to and participation in science for women and girls.

Such a day is desired because U.N. statistics show that fewer than 30 percent of scientific researchers in the world are women and only about 30 percent of all female students select fields in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) to pursue in their higher education. Only about 22 percent of the professionals in cutting edge fields such as artificial intelligence are women. Plus, representation among women is especially low professionally in fields such as information and communication technology at 3 percent; natural science, mathematics and statistics at 5 percent; and engineering at 8 percent.

“This happens in high school, college, middle school and as far back as I can remember,” Hancock said. “Women in science classes have to fight for their place. I feel like we’re getting better, but even in college, I feel talked over. I feel like I don’t have as much of a voice or authority in those communities. There are extra roadblocks for women to stick around in STEM, and it can be taxing emotionally and mentally to experience those environments.”

Group picture of the Kalamazoo College Birding Club with binoculars - women in science
Grace Hancock ’22 had student support systems such as the Kalamazoo Birding Club throughout her years at K.

Hancock is among the many women in science at K working to reverse such trends. In addition to her marine biology work, she has enjoyed taking classes involving ecology and animal behavior, while encouraging students new to K to stick with the sciences and seek support systems. Hancock had her own support systems even outside the classroom through the Kalamazoo Birding Club and the women’s swimming and diving team.

“There’s so much research and so much to be said about staying healthy physically, and how that helps you mentally,” Hancock said of her athletics experience. “Even if I’m having a hard trimester, taking classes like organic chemistry or calculus, if I’m working out regularly or I have a team of women supporting me in the water, then my classroom work is going to be better. I would say almost half of the women on the swimming and diving team were STEM majors or taking STEM classes and we consistently had one of the highest GPAs among the athletics programs at K. It was an academically-driven community and I loved being a student-athlete.”

In targeting life after K, Hancock obtained class credit by working for a trimester in an internship at Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

“That was a really great experience, because I got to visit every week and see how the naturalists worked,” Hancock said. “We used GIS equipment to survey and record the locations of different plants and demographic data on the fish living in streams. It was observational data, which was great exposure for me as someone who is more research focused.”

Grace Hancock works with two others at the birding station at Sarett Nature Center
Grace Hancock works at the birding station at Sarett Nature Center.
Blue Jay at Sarett Nature Center
Grace Hancock ’22 observed birds like this one working as an intern at Sarett Nature Center.
Women in Science Grace Hancock Holding and Owl
Grace Hancock ’22 holds an owl while working as an intern.
Women in Science Grace Hancock with an owl
Grace Hancock ’22 holds an owl at the Sarett Nature Center.

After graduation, Hancock hopes to obtain a short-term marine biology job that might involve working in a lab or on a boat to monitor marine mammals. After that, she would like to obtain a Fulbright scholarship in a country in South America to work on her Spanish skills and later find a graduate program that suits her. In the meantime, she will continue mentoring younger students, while following in the footsteps of students who started at K before her.

“Mentorship from our professors is important, but there’s a lot to be said for women looking after women in the classroom,” she said. “I have a few students who have graduated as my role models and I hope to emulate them for younger students. I’m a TA for Form and Function and some other entry-level biology classes. Through that I’m able to work with first-year students. I’m continuing that legacy that the older students gave to me.”

“Acting Shakespeare” an Ideal Intro to the Bard

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Matthew Swarthout rehearses for Acting Shakespeare
Matthew Swarthout ’22 will present “Acting Shakespeare,” his own play
adapted from Sir Ian McKellen’s production of the same name, this
Thursday–Sunday at the Dungeon Theatre, 139 Thompson St.

If you desire an appreciation for the works of William Shakespeare yet find his plays challenging, you’ll want to attend a show coming this week to Kalamazoo College. Matthew Swarthout ’22 will present his self-written senior integrated project (SIP), a play titled Acting Shakespeare, adapted from Sir Ian McKellen’s production of the same name, this Thursday–Sunday at the Dungeon Theatre, 139 Thompson St.

The original production featured McKellen alone on stage with no props or scenery, performing monologues from Shakespeare’s work, and discussing some of his plays. McKellen first performed it in 1980, and a 1984 Broadway engagement earned him the Drama Desk Award for an Outstanding One-Person Show and a Tony Award nomination.

This version will encompass both Swarthout’s and McKellen’s insight into Shakespeare’s plays, featuring monologues and scenes from plays such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry the Fourth Part One and Henry the Fifth.

“This is the kind of Shakespeare show for people who don’t know Shakespeare,” Swarthout said. “I can talk in my 2022 language, which everyone can understand, and then I can shift into Shakespearean language and say, ‘This is what Shakespeare meant by this.’ It’s like a sampler of plays. You’ve got a comedy, a tragedy, a history and you can decide for yourself if you enjoy Shakespeare enough to see more of his plays.”

Matthew Swarthout rehearsing for Acting Shakespeare
Matthew Swarthout ’22 offers his insights into William Shakespeare’s plays
in “Acting Shakespeare,” coming this week to the Dungeon Theatre at
Kalamazoo College.

Swarthout first developed his appreciation for Shakespeare as a young child when he saw As You Like It at the Stratford Festival in Canada. He later was drawn to K as he found the liberal arts could empower him to double major in biology and theatre. Since, Swarthout has performed in several Festival Playhouse shows with roles including the comical character Sir Andrew in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Buzz Windrip, a politician who unexpectedly wins the U.S. presidency in It Can’t Happen Here, a play based on Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 satire of what could happen if Fascism spreads to the United States.

“I’ve had a lot of freedom at K with directors who really like to see some big, expressive characters, and that’s the kind of role I’m often cast into,” Swarthout said. “Even for Acting Shakespeare, I change things around one day and try something completely different the next day to see what works. It’s nice to see what goes wrong in order to see what’s going to go right.”

Acting Shakespeare production poster
“Acting Shakespeare” will encompass plays such as “Romeo
and Juliet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Hamlet,”
“Macbeth,” “Henry the Fourth Part One” and “Henry the Fifth.”

That freedom takes on more complexity in preparing for Acting Shakespeare as Swarthout serves as both actor and director. He listens to recordings of himself reciting the play while snowboarding for memorization purposes in addition to maintaining regular rehearsals.

“There’s a challenge in looking at yourself with such a critical eye,” he said. “Usually as an actor, you’re doing your best and then it’s up to the director to say, ‘You could improve upon this.’ But since I’m directing myself, I’ve had rehearsals where I go over about three lines in 45 minutes. It’s hard to separate the director from the actor.”

In additional theatre pursuits, Swarthout participated in the New York Arts Program, a study away opportunity that places students from Great Lakes College Association (GLCA) affiliated schools in Broadway and off-Broadway theatre organizations, opera houses, dance companies, publishing houses, literary agencies and music performance venues. Swarthout worked at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, finishing just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city. An adviser told him not to expect an opportunity to act on stage while there, as most of the acting opportunities go to New York University students. However, his talents enabled him to accept the role of Underling in a production of The Drowsy Chaperone, a parody of American musical comedies of the 1920s.

“That was probably the best experience I had in New York just because I felt like I was living there as a working actor,” Swarthout said. “I had my classes, I had my job and then I had the gig, which was really fantastic.”

Swarthout is sending out audition tapes to adapt to theatre’s current virtual landscape in the hopes of one day returning to the East Coast and eventually New York after graduation. In the meantime, he’s excited to think of how his audiences could develop an interest in Shakespeare as a result of his performances. Tickets for Acting Shakespeare, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, are available online. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free. Tickets for the general public are $5. Please note that proof of vaccination and masks are required for admittance to the theatre.

“People should enjoy Shakespeare and keep Shakespeare alive, not for the history of it, but what we can do with it,” Swarthout said. “We can change its meaning and interpret it in so many ways to get a point across. If you’re trying to have a theatre season that’s focused on anti-racism or has some themes around homophobia, for example, you can use a Shakespeare show to bridge gaps of understanding. Shakespeare becomes a powerful tool.”