Category: Students

Phi Beta Kappa Welcomes New K Inductees

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Kalamazoo College’s Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa welcomed 42 outstanding seniors into its cohort on June 7, 2023, recognizing their exceptional scholastic achievements across disciplines. With a strong commitment to fostering a love for learning, Phi Beta Kappa honors these new members for their academic ability and intellectual curiosity. 

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society, boasting 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and more than 150 Nobel Laureates among their ranks. The society’s mission is “to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.” 

Acceptance into Phi Beta Kappa is considered one of the highest academic honors a student can receive as the society is known for its rigorous selection process that evaluates students’ achievements across the arts, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. 

As these talented individuals embark on the next chapter of their educational and professional journeys, their Phi Beta Kappa membership will serve as a symbol of their exceptional accomplishments and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. The Kalamazoo College community looks forward to witnessing their future contributions and the positive impact they will make in their chosen fields. 

Phi Beta Kappa logo

Join us in congratulating the following students, 

  • Hashim Akhtar of Saginaw, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor, biochemistry and molecular biology and biological physics concentrations 
  • Abigail Barnum of Byron Center, Michigan; biochemistry and German majors 
  • Eleana Basso of Evanston, Illinois; psychology and studio art majors, art history minor 
  • Natalie Call of Cody, Wyoming; biology major, psychology minor 
  • Eleanor Carr of East Lansing, Michigan; biology and computer science majors 
  • Hannah Durant of Grand Blanc, Michigan; English and mathematics majors 
  • Payton Fleming of Olivet, Michigan; business major, computer science minor 
  • Hana Frisch of Morton Grove, Illinois; biology major, anthropology and sociology minor, community and global health concentration 
  • Tristan Fuller of Whitmore Lake, Michigan; business and English majors 
  • William Fulton of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor 
  • Zoe Gurney of Ann Arbor, Michigan; economics major, Chinese and mathematics minors, community and global health concentration 
  • Lucy Hart of Evanston, Illinois; biochemistry major, psychology minor 
  • Katherine Haywood of Hastings, Michigan; biology and computer science majors 
  • Ian Hurley of Plymouth, Michigan; biology and Spanish majors 
  • Ryan Johnson of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology major 
  • Koshiro Kuroda of Kawasaki, Japan; anthropology and sociology and music majors 
  • Claire Kvande of Memphis, Tennessee; chemistry and physics majors, French and mathematics minors 
  • Dillon Lee of Ada, Michigan; biochemistry major 
  • Thomas Lichtenberg of Farmington, Michigan; philosophy and political science majors, mathematics minor 
  • Alvaro Lopez Gutierrez of Lima, Peru; German and psychology majors 
  • Nicholas Lucking of Dexter, Michigan; psychology major, English minor 
  • Aleksandr Molchagin of Borisoglebsk, Russia; business and computer science majors 
  • Matthew Mueller of Charleston, Illinois; psychology major 
  • Erin Grace Murphy of Grosse Ile, Michigan; computer science major, music minor 
  • Alexis Nesbitt of Parchment, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor, neuroscience concentration 
  • Jenna Paterob of Melrose Park, Illinois; business and psychology majors, studio art minor 
  • Harrison Poeszat of Commerce Township, Michigan; chemistry major 
  • Ashley Rill of Rochester Hills, Michigan; biochemistry major, psychology and Spanish minors 
  • Madeline Gehl Shroeder of East Grand Rapids, Michigan; computer science and East Asian studies majors 
  • William Shaw of Kalamazoo, Michigan; computer science major, Japanese and mathematics minors 
  • Emma Sidor of St. Charles, Illinois; psychology and Spanish majors 
  • Sophia Sjogren of Chelsea, Michigan; computer science major 
  • Alex Stolberg of Charlotte, Michigan; biology major, environmental studies concentration 
  • Katelynn Stover of Troy, Michigan; psychology major 
  • Suja Thakali of Kalamazoo, Michigan; chemistry major 
  • Abhi Thaku of West Bloomfield, Michigan; chemistry major, mathematics minor 
  • Mia Flora Tucci of Richland, Michigan; chemistry and Spanish majors, psychology minor 
  • Oliver Tye of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania; chemistry and mathematics majors 
  • Elizabeth Wang of Portage, Michigan; biochemistry major, German minor 
  • Katelyn Williams of Ada, Michigan; classical civilizations and psychology majors 
  • Tony Yazbeck of West Bloomfield, Michigan; biochemistry major, anthropology and sociology minor 
  • Nathaniel Zona of Albion, Michigan; biology major, community and global health concentration 

Six 2023-24 Heyl Scholars to Attend K This Fall

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Six Kalamazoo County high school students seeking to major in STEM-related fields have earned Heyl Scholarships to attend Kalamazoo College in the 2023-24 academic year. 

The Heyl Scholarship Fund was established in 1971 through the will of Dr. Frederick Heyl and Mrs. Elsie Heyl. Frederick Heyl was the first chemist at The Upjohn Company, later becoming a vice president and the company’s first director of research. He also contributed to about 80 research papers and patents while teaching chemistry at K. He maintained a lifelong passion for science and education and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from K in 1937.   

Since then, Heyl scholarships have enabled hundreds of high school graduates from Kalamazoo County to attend Kalamazoo College for STEM-focused majors or Western Michigan University for nursing, with renewable benefits for up to four years that cover tuition, fees, housing and a book allowance.  

This year’s K recipients of the scholarships and their high schools are:  

  • Abigail Eilertson, Gull Lake and the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC) 
  • Pauline Hawkes, Kalamazoo Central
  • Jason Krawczyk, Portage Central and KAMSC 
  • Ava Schwachter, Kalamazoo Central and KAMSC 
  • Anthony Valade, Portage Northern and KAMSC 
  • Benjamin Whitsett, Loy Norrix and KAMSC 

Two other scholars, Kelcey Briggs and Riley Sackett, have graduated from Loy Norrix High School and will attend the Western Michigan University Bronson School of Nursing. 

2023-24 Heyl Scholars in a group photo
Riley Sackett (from left), Kelcey Briggs, Ava Schwachter, Jason Krawczyk, Pauline Hawkes, Abigail Eilertson, Benjamin Whitsett and Anthony Valade are this year’s Heyl Scholars. Schwachter, Krawczyk, Hawkes, Eilertson, Whitsett and Valade will attend Kalamazoo College. Sackett and Briggs will attend Western Michigan University’s Bronson School of Nursing.

Family Science Night Fun Brings Community to K

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Students participate in Family Science Night
Kalamazoo College students demonstrate how oranges can be used to pop balloons during Family Science Night.
Students participate in Family Science Night
K students teach community members about acid/base chemistry by writing hidden messages.
Family Science Night 14 (2)
K students helped K-12 students explore density by using oil, water and Alka-Seltzer to make lava lamps.

About 160 community members, consisting of kindergartners through 12th graders and their families, came to campus to engage with fun, hands-on experiments at Family Science Night on May 18, hosted by students from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Department of Biology at Kalamazoo College.

The Family Science Night “Science Surrounds Us,” conducted at Dow Science Center and supported by funding from the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, featured 15 interactive science booths with 39 undergraduate student volunteers and a four-student planning committee, consisting of Crystal Mendoza ’23, Elizabeth Wang ’23, Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Onora Lancaster ’23. The event gave K students the opportunity to practice their science communication skills while nurturing children’s interest in the sciences.

K students showed Family Science Night attendees how to make DNA bracelets using the DNA sequences from various animals.
Students participate in Family Science Night
K students helped Family Science Night attendees explore the freezing-point of water by making ice cream.
K students showed taught community members about the life cycle of plants by planting herb seeds for kids to take home.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Josie Mitchell joined the faculty at K last fall and had been thinking since about ways she could connect her students with the community. Science outreach events with K-12 students had been the way she loved doing similar community engagement as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“One of the skills I hope my students develop is to be able to communicate the scientific concepts they learn about in class in an exciting and accessible way to the public,” Mitchell said. “As students planned their science booths, we talked about the scientific topic each group hoped to convey and then designed hands-on experiments that K-12 students would do. Ultimately, we all learn better and have more fun when we’re actually doing something versus being told about it.”

Stickers helped K-12 students keep track of which experiments they saw
Kids used stickers in a Family Science Night passport to keep track of which experiment stations they visited.
K students assist community members
·        K students showed Family Science Night attendees how to extract the iron content from cereal using magnets
Students tend to a booth showing homemade volcanoes
K students helped community members investigate acid/base chemistry with baking soda and vinegar to make mini-volcanoes.

The K students developed ideas using household ingredients that ranged from experiments such as creating miniature volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar, exploring the freezing point of water by making ice cream and learning about the life cycle of plants by planting herbs, to creative activities such as removing the iron from cereal with magnets, extracting DNA from strawberries and investigating rubber polymers by using oranges to pop balloons.

“The planning committee and I worked together with groups to hone their scientific concept and think creatively about how students could get their hands wet and learn through experimentation,” Mitchell said. “For example, one group was learning about acids and bases. There is a chemical in red cabbage called anthocyanin that serves as a pH indicator and it will change color depending on how acidic or basic the solution is. K students prepared a red cabbage pH indicator solution and then had K-12 students add it into acidic and basic solutions and observe a color change. Many of the parents would also engage with the science booths, and I believe events like this can bring out the inner child-like curiosity in all of us.”

Students participate in Family Science Night
K students helped Family Science Night attendees investigate the polarity of molecules using milk, food coloring and detergent.
Family Science Night
Family Science Night attendees explored protein folding using a computer program and origami.
Family Science Night 9
K students taught K-12 students and parents about genetics through taste inheritance by using a PTC test.

The K community made the night possible with involvement from the planning stages all the way through cleanup after the event.

“We had a lot of help, especially with funding from the Center for Civic Engagement and donated prize items from K Admissions and the K Bookstore,” Mitchell said. “I communicated with (CCE Director) Alison Geist throughout the planning stages, and (Associate Director for Community Partnerships) Teresa Denton tapped into the CCE’s amazing network of local schools and programs to invite community members to the event.”

Student organizations such as Sisters in Science and the College’s chapter of the American Chemical Society also assisted.

“I think our student involvement was the most rewarding part,” Mitchell said. “I’ve already known how amazing our students are, but they went above and beyond to make this event possible. I wanted to start smaller and more focused this year to see how it went, and next year I would love to invite other K students from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines to host a booth.”

Family Science Night 4
K students showed Family Science Night attendees how to test the pH of household items using cabbage water.
K students helped K-12 students explore density by using oil, water and Alka-Seltzer to make lava lamps.
Family Science Night 13
K students taught community members how to extract DNA from strawberries during Family Science Night.

Family Science Night Experiments

  • Magnetic Munchies: extracting iron content in cereal using magnets
  • Fold It: exploring protein folding using a computer program and origami
  • Dancing Drawings: learning about density by watching dry erase drawings float
  • Butterfly Wings: creating colorful butterflies using coffee filter paper chromatography
  • Mini Volcanoes: investigating acid/base chemistry with baking soda and vinegar
  • Strawberry DNA: extracting DNA from strawberries
  • Ice Cream: exploring the freezing-point of water by making ice cream
  • The Lifecycle of Plants: planting herb seeds and taking them home to watch them grow
  • Magic Milk: investigating polarity of molecules using milk, food coloring and detergent
  • Lava Lamps: exploring density using oil, water and Alka-Seltzer to make lava lamps
  • Oranges and Balloons: investigating rubber polymers using oranges to pop balloons
  • Bitter or Bland: exploring the genetics of taste inheritance using a PTC test
  • DNA Bracelets: making DNA bracelets using the DNA sequence from various animals
  • Acid or Base: testing the pH of various household items using cabbage water as a pH indicator
  • Spies in Disguise, Invisible Ink: learning about acid/base chemistry by writing hidden messages

Volunteer Feedback

  • “I had so much fun running this booth and it was fun to be able to teach kids about chemistry. I feel like everything was running smoothly with some rush of people, but it was manageable.”
  • “This was a wonderful time! I heard phenomenal things from parents as they came out!”
  • “I had so much fun and would love to do it again! I loved seeing all of their reactions to our volcanoes!”

Parent Feedback

“The Family Science Night was absolutely wonderful. My children had the best time! My son is very interested in science, but my daughter has approached it more cautiously, although last night really made her more interested in it so I am grateful to you all!”

Graduating Senior Earns First Sherbin Fellowship, 10 Months Abroad

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A new fellowship established by alumnus Robert Sherbin ’79 and named after his father, Jerry, is giving its first Kalamazoo College graduating senior a chance to go overseas for 10 months while exploring a subject of deep personal interest.

To fulfill her fellowship, Elle Waldron ’23—a women, gender and sexuality (WGS) major—will visit a variety of feminist and gender-equity organizations to witness the tools and strategies they use to execute their work and complete their goals.

“Having this opportunity to travel and continue my education is a special way to be able to see other perspectives,” Waldron said. “It affirms that it’s possible for me to continue to follow my passions of WGS and gender equity work because people are working in those fields in their careers.”

Assuming her plans develop as proposed, she will travel to Australia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Spain beginning in late August or early September. Through that she will regularly update Sherbin, the College and the Center for International Programs (CIP) on her progress. In fall 2024, she will return to K to present her experiences to prospective fellowship applicants.

Waldron said she felt overwhelmed when she first was notified that she was selected for the fellowship.

“It felt unreal and now I’m super excited,” she said. “I think part of the excitement is being able to challenge myself and push my comfort zone. I feel like this will change the trajectory of my post-grad experience.”

Waldron was one of seven applicants and three finalists in the fellowship’s first year. The other finalists were Zoe Reyes ’23, who planned to study eco-poetry on medicinal plants in biodiversity hotspots; and Shannon Brown ’23, who proposed investigating the social status of French-based creoles in the Caribbean.

Waldron “had a lot of attention to detail with her application and showed she’s aware of how she would be perceived in places as an outsider while being amenable to how she could navigate those kinds of situations,” said Lizbeth Mendoza Pineda ’16, the Sherbin Fellowship CIP liaison and a co-chair of the fellowship’s selection committee. “She also recognizes that she’s only going to be abroad for a short amount of time, yet she’s trying to make as much of an impact and learn as much as possible, while making sure that whatever work she accomplishes is sustainable. I think that’s something that impressed the committee.”

Sherbin Fellow Elle Waldron
Elle Waldron ’23 will spend 10 months abroad is the first recipient of the Jerry Sherbin Fellowship, funded by Bob Sherbin ’79.

Sherbin participated in study abroad at K by traveling to the University of Nairobi, where he was one of just six undergrads from the U.S. and the only K student.

Later, as a senior, he received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, an external grant through the Watson Foundation, that allowed him to create and follow through with a one-year project overseas. With that he spent a year in Central and West Africa as a Watson Fellow, conducting a sociological study of long-distance truck drivers. Sherbin said the experience was transformative and guided him toward graduate school at Northwestern University, years spent as an international journalist, and eventually, working as the vice president of corporate communications at NVIDIA, a Silicon Valley-based technology company.

Waldron had her own study abroad experience in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for six months last year.

“I was lucky to have a study abroad experience that allowed me to be comfortable in a space that I wasn’t familiar with because I was supported and had friends in the program,” Waldron said. “Because of that, I recognized my own skills and ability to adapt. With K providing that foundation, I feel I have a fantastic ability to investigate things abroad.”

Now, she hopes those investigations will yield long-term relationships with people from around the world and allow her to consult those people regularly in the future. She would also like it to help her become a better critical thinker and define feminism from a global perspective as it’s influenced by a variety of historical and cultural contexts.

“I think as a WGS major and as an individual, I’m interested in how gender and sexuality structures the world around me,” Waldron said. “But for me, getting out of academia is a bit of a leap, because I’m not sure how to apply all these things that I have learned. I want to work on projects that pursue gender equity and find out how to be the most effective. That’s why I’m interested in this project. I want to see what other new worlds women and people are creating, because I want to see them in my own career.”

Students Launch ‘This Is Public Health’ Campaign

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If you’re not sure what public health encompasses or what its workers do, you’re not alone, and an awareness campaign from a Kalamazoo College class aims to change that.

“This is Public Health at K,” adapted from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, is being launched by K’s Issues in Public Health class, taught by Dr. Khadija Brumblay.

Students in the class said jointly, “Dr. Brumblay’s class has impacted our perception of public health and public health workers. We hope to expand that understanding to K students to help them realize how public health impacts their daily lives.”

Public health promotes well-being through education and advocacy, protects health through policy and legislation, and prevents illnesses, diseases and injuries. It includes things as varied as speed limit signs, ergonomic chairs, trash cans, sewage systems, vaccine developments and campaigns, water sanitation, mental health prevention, diet and physical exercise education, tobacco taxation and national surveys that monitor health.

Its workers are community workers who visit homes to engage with people, their families and entire communities. They organize education campaigns, develop sexual-education curriculum and cancer screening campaigns. They collect pond and rain water, soil and animal droppings to identify the causes and risk factors for diseases, while predicting and modeling the occurrence and trends of diseases, illnesses and injuries. They promote planting trees and encourage people to use seat belts while driving and helmets while biking.

No matter who they are or what they do, “public health workers are advocates for various communities who work in pursuit of a healthier, more equitable society that prioritizes the well-being of all,” the class said.

About 100 years ago, about half of all the babies born in the U.S. didn’t live past their first year. A century of interventions as simple as hand washing have pushed overall life expectancy from 40 to 78 years in the U.S. That is the might of public health.

Issues in Public Health class
Cameron, Danielle, Lizbeth, Jessica, Emma, Sofia, Sophia F., Sophia H, Jonathan, Amelia, Mahum, Vanita, Elizabeth, Sophia L, Onora, Lindsey, Addison, Leslie, Thea, Megan, Nate, Rachel and Hana are students in the Issues in Public Health Class.
Image provides a QR code for K's 'This Is Public Health' campaign

These positive trends are observed worldwide. But significant inequities between countries and between communities in the same countries remain due to the socio-demographic, economic and political hierarchies in our societies. In Kalamazoo, infant mortality is much greater for Black children than white children. Equity and access to opportunities are therefore at the center of all public health efforts.

Unfortunately, for the first time in human history, life expectancy is declining due to a combination of deaths of despair such as opioid overdoses, suicides and the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of recent developments, including vaccine hesitancy and reduced trust in science and the medical profession, it is important to pause and appreciate public health for its central role in human health and well-being.

You can help by spreading the word. Talk to your friends, share links and hashtags (#ThisIsPublicHealthatK) from the campaign, and like and comment on social media posts.

As the College’s motto is lux esto, or be light, “public health is the light leading us to a brighter future,” the class said.

From the Class

Health is more than just a hospital with doctors and shots. Please take a moment to skim this information and gain a better understanding of both the different forms that public health takes on and how they have manifested on our campus. It should be said that you can advocate for further efforts toward supporting any of these forms of public health on our campus. To make changes in the health of this campus, you must first understand it, so we hope this infographic and other supporting information provides some of the knowledge to support utilization and even expansion of public health care at K. 

Our Why 

This campaign’s goal is to increase awareness and understanding of what public health is and how it impacts all facets of daily life. Public health is the promotion of healthy living by education to prevent injuries and illnesses. How can we impact the attitudes of K students to identify what makes public health important to them at a personal level and then at the community level? Furthermore, this campaign will generate critical thinking of where Kalamazoo College may need help. This will benefit the College’s public health approach. We want to be a part of the larger picture and be a model institution.  

The Original ‘This Is Public Health’ Campaign 

The This Is Public Health Campaign divides the campaign into three areas: prevention, impact, and equity & justice. Impact is one of its standout qualities and it speaks to the CGHL 210- Issues in Public Health class. Preventing disease and injury starts with education and acknowledging where the inequities occur that lead to health disparities. This Is Public Health campaign is run by Association of Schools and Programs of Health to raise awareness and meet students where they’re at. Various modes of technology and advertisement includes news articles, social media, books, and podcasts. Most resources on the campaign websites are created and promoted by student teams and classes. This Is Public Health centers self-advocacy and agency of students to gain a stronger presence in all areas of public health. 

'This is public health' graphic lists categories including reproductive health, mental health, injury, equity, health ethics, misinformation, environment, spirituality, physical health, emergency, individual action and policy and built environment

K’s Banner Year Elates Faculty, NSF Fellows

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Kalamazoo College STEM-related academic departments are celebrating a banner year as the overall number of current students and alumni receiving National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellowships reaches four, the most since 2016.

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding students who pursue research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. A five-year fellowship covers three years of financial support, including an annual stipend and a cost-of-education allowance to attend an institution along with access to professional-development opportunities.

About 2,000 applicants are offered a fellowship per NSF competition in fields such as chemistry, biology, psychology, physics and math. This is the first year since 2013 that two current K students, Claire Kvande ’23 and Mallory Dolorfino ’23, have earned awards. Two alumni also have earned fellowships, Cavan Bonner ’21 and Angel Banuelos ’21.

“The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is a highly competitive program that is only awarded to about 16% of the applicants, who represented more than 15,000 undergraduates and graduate students across all STEM fields,” Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Blakely Tresca said. “Approximately 2,500 awards were offered this year across all STEM fields and the vast majority of them go to students at large research universities and Ivy League schools. It is rare to see more than one or two awards at an undergraduate-focused college, particularly at a small liberal arts school like K. It is exceptional for schools in the GLCA (Great Lakes Colleges Association) to have one award in a year, and four awards is a truly outstanding accomplishment for these students.”

Claire Kvande ’23

Kvande has been a double major in physics and chemistry with minors in math and French at K. She credits faculty members such as Dow Distinguished Professor of Natural Science Jan Tobochnik and Associate Professor of Physics David Wilson, along with a wide range of courses, for preparing her to receive an NSF fellowship.

“I like the nitty gritty of sitting down and figuring out how to approach a problem within physics even though it’s often hard,” she said. “I really like work that is grounded in real-world problems and it’s part of why I’m interested in the subfield of condensed matter. There’s a lot that stands to be applied to technologies that I think could improve our world and help a lot of people.”

Kvande will attend the University of Washington this fall, where she plans to extend her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) work, which examined how charge-density waves relate to superconductivity within condensed matter.

“Superconductivity is a tantalizing physics concept,” she said. “If we could realize superconductivity at room temperature, it would allow us to do a lot with energy saving and revolutionize how we use electricity. There are schools of thought that say charge-density waves would be helpful in achieving that and others that say it would be hurtful. Since we really don’t know how superconductivity works, this is worth investigating so we can hopefully better understand this powerful phenomenon.”

NSF fellow Claire Kvande presenting her SIP
Claire Kvande ’23 will attend graduate school at the University of Washington as a National Science Foundation fellow.

Mallory Dolorfino ’23

Dolorfino, a computer science and math double major, also will attend the University of Washington, where they will pursue a doctorate in math.

“I didn’t really like math until I came to K,” Dolorfino said. “I took calculus in high school and I was just not going to take any more in college until one of my senior friends told me when I was a first-year student to take linear algebra. I took that and Calculus 3 online during the first COVID term and I just kept doing math, so I switched my major. It’s not like other subjects because you can work for hours and not get anything done. That’s frustrating at times, but it’s fun to understand it enough to prove things logically.”

Dolorfino credits several faculty members for their growth and success at K, leading to their NSF opportunity. They include Tresca, who helped students keep track of their NSF application timelines and materials; Associate Professor of Mathematics Michele Intermont, who provided letters of recommendation and application assistance for research opportunities and graduate school; and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo, who provided invaluable feedback regarding their research proposal and many conversations about math.

Dolorfino remains in contact with a professor they worked with in a math-focused study abroad program in Budapest. The two of them conducted a monthlong research project in algebraic number theory, which is a foundation in applications such as encryption and bar codes. Their NSF application proposes group theory work, which is what she based some research on last summer at Texas State University. They hope their NSF work will help them become a college professor one day. “There are a lot of math institutions on the West Coast and specifically in the Northwest, so I will have really good connections there,” said Dolorfino, who agreed the award is an honor. “I was grateful for the people at K who helped me apply.”

NSF fellow Mallory Dolorfino
Mallory Dolorfino ’23 will attend graduate school at the University of Washington as an NSF fellow.

Cavan Bonner ’21

Bonner has spent the past two years working as a research staff member in industrial and organizational psychology at Purdue University. His NSF fellowship will take him to another Big Ten school.

“My area of research involves personality development and how personality changes over the lifespan,” he said. “It’s a pretty small sub field and there are only a few doctoral programs where you can study the topic with an expert. The University of Illinois is one of them.”

Bonner further hopes the fellowship will propel his career toward a tenure-track job at a research university. He said K helped prepare him well for that trajectory through a broad range of subjects, not only in psychology, but in adjacent fields such as sociology and statistics. Bonner also credits his experience working as a research assistant for Ann V. and Donald R. Parfet Distinguished Professor of Psychology Gary Gregg, and Associate Professor of Psychology Brittany Liu for training him in skills that he frequently uses in his research work after graduation. 

“I was drawn to personality psychology because it provides an integrative framework to study many of the research questions I have about human development, aging and change over time,” Bonner said. “My SIP and research assistant experiences at K helped me realize that I could address these questions from a personality perspective, but my professors also exposed me to so many other fields and perspectives that inform my research. I primarily identify as a personality and developmental psychologist, but ultimately I hope that this fellowship helps me contribute to the broader science of aging and development.”

Portrait of Cavan Bonner
Cavan Bonner ’21 will attend the University of Illinois as an NSF fellow.

Angel Banuelos ’21

Banuelos, a biology major and anthropology/sociology minor at K, is in his second year at the University of Wisconsin, where he said he studies genetics—specifically the construction of the vertebrate brain and face—under an amazing mentor, Professor Yevgenya Grinblat.

“Live beings are built by cells that are informed by DNA,” Banuelos said. “At the beginning of embryonic development, the cells split into groups. One of those groups is called the neural crest cells. Those cells go on to contribute to a whole bunch of things such as pigment cells in the skin, and cartilage and bones in the face. My project is trying to understand how neural crest cells contribute to stabilizing the very first blood vessels of the developing eye.”

Ultimately, when his graduate work is finished, he would like to steer his career towards education.

NSF fellow Angel Banuelos in the lab
Angel Banuelos ’21, a newly-named NSF fellow, is in his second year of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.

“I would like to bring research opportunities to people who don’t have higher education experience,” Banuelos said. “I would imagine starting with programs for middle schoolers, then high schoolers and adult learners. I want to be part of research addressing community problems and conducted by the people who live there.”

Banuelos credits inspiration for his career goals to the many mentors he had at K. Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, former director of the intercultural center, and Amy Newday, who provided guidance in food and farming justice, served as role models for applying theory to meet material needs.

“In my NSF application, I described meeting community needs as a central component of my scholarship,” he said. “Natalia and Amy are people who literally fed me while I was at K. They saw the student and the human. They handed me books, handed me plates, even welcomed my family. During a very difficult transition to grad school, they were there for me. When I’m a professor, I want to be like them. I’m grateful for the growth opportunities I had at K through the Intercultural Center and food and farming.”

‘It doesn’t happen every year’

Faculty members as a whole across STEM departments are taking great pride in these K representatives earning fellowships as it speaks to the quality of students at the College and their studies, especially as the number of recipients stands out.

“At K, it is exciting when even a single student wins a fellowship, and it certainly doesn’t happen every year,” Professor of Physics Tom Askew said. “It’s special to have four in one year.”

K Honors 29 Senior Leadership Award Recipients

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A total of 29 students known for their invaluable contributions to the Kalamazoo College community were honored Friday, May 12, at the annual Senior Leadership Recognition Awards. 

The seniors represent talented athletes, outstanding academic performers, members of the President’s Student Ambassadors and student-organization standouts. Here are the honorees: 

  • Litzy Bahena, nominated by Danielle Turner of Residential Life 
  • Violet Crampton, nominated by Hunter Magrum of Residential Life 
  • Kylah Davis, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors
  • Katia Duoibes, nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Riley Gabriel and Felicia Ford of the Center for Civic Engagement  
  • Jazmyne Fannings, nominated by Alaq Zghayer of Intercultural Student Life and Jon Collier of Student Activities 
  • Peter Fitzgerald, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors 
  • Yoichi Haga, nominated by Noriko Sugimori and Brian White of the Department of Japanese 
  • Kate Haywood, nominated by Pam Cutter of the Department of Computer Science 
  • Isabella Kirchgessner, nominated by Sara Stockwood and Binney Girdler of Environmental Stewardship and Environmental Studies 
  • Claire Kvande, nominated by Jan Tobochnik of the Department of Physics 
  • Milan Levy, nominated by Nat Markech of Student Activities and Alaq Zghayer of Intercultural Student Life 
  • DaShawn Meeks, nominated by Alaq Zghayer of Intercultural Student Life; Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors; and Jon Collier of Student Activities 
  • Crystal Mendoza, nominated by Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Jeff Bartz and Regina Stevens-Truss of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • Aleksandr Molchagin, nominated by Alyce Brady of the Department of Computer Science 
  • Maheen Mulligan, nominated by Jon Collier of Student Activities 
  • Justin Negrete, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors 
  • Stefan Nielsen, nominated by Jeffrey Haus of the Department of History and Jewish Studies 
  • Gunzi Otj, nominated by Nat Markech of Student Activities and Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors
  • Alexis Petty, nominated by Women’s Soccer Coach Bryan Goyings 
  • Noah Prentice, nominated by Kathryn Sederberg of the Department of German Studies 
  • Andrew Puckett, nominated by Cyndy Garcia-Weyandt of Critical Ethnic Studies  
  • Milagros Robelo, nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Riley Gabriel and Felicia Ford of the Center for Civic Engagement 
  • Alex Stolberg, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors 
  • Suja Thakali, nominated by Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Jeff Bartz and Regina Stevens-Truss of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 
  • Chilotam Urama, nominated by Patrik Hultberg and Darshana Udayanganie of the Department of Economics and Business, and Ryan Patterson of Residential Life 
  • Elizabeth Wang, nominated by Regina Stevens-Truss of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 
  • Ryley White, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors, and Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Riley Gabriel and Felicia Ford, of the Center for Civic Engagement  
  • Christian Zeitvogel, nominated by Kathryn Sederberg of the Department of German
  • Nathaniel Zona, nominated by Sandy Dugal, coordinator of President’s Student Ambassadors 
28 of the 29 Senior Leadership Award recipients in 2023
The 2023 Senior Leadership Award recipients include (front row from left): Gunzi Otj, Milagros Robelo, Maheen Mulligan, Crystal Mendoza, Suja Thakali and Jazmyne Fannings. Second row: Claire Kvande, Litzy Bahena, Nathaniel Zona and Kylah Davis. Third row: Kate Haywood, Elizabeth Wang, Noah Prentice, Stefan Nielsen, Yoichi Haga and Alexis Petty. Fourth row: Ryley White, Isabella Kirchgessner, Violet Crampton and Alex Stolberg. Fifth row: Christian Zeitvogel, Chilotam Urama, Andrew Puckett and Aleksandr Molchagin. Top row: Milan Levy, DaShawn Meeks, Justin Negrete and Peter Fitzerald. Not pictured: Katia Duoibes.

A Bippy on Their Radar Helps Scientists Find K Students

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Bippy with students and guest 2
Caelan Frazier ’23 (left) and Shay Brown ’23 (right) took Bippy to the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Conference in Orlando, Florida. They posed here with Merck Senior Scientist Dr. Devin J. Swiner.
Shay Brown with Bippy at a poster presentation
Brown ’23 receives some help from Bippy in making her poster presentation.
Shay Brown and Caelan Frazier with a guest and Bippy
Frazier, Brown and University of California Irvine Graduate Research Assistant Alissa Matus pose with Bippy at the NOBCChE Conference in Orlando, Florida.

His name is Bippy and he’s the Squishmallow that’s making Kalamazoo College famous.

Squishmallows are soft, squishy, cuddly stuffed animals that come in a variety of colors and sizes, and their popularity has grown exponentially over the past year or so. The K Hornet versions of the plushies—available at the College’s bookstore—are round and orange with thin, black arms; antennae; beady eyes; a friendly smile and a K on their belly.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, known affectionately to her students as Dr. DAR with her lab students called DARlings, uses a K version named Bippy as her lab’s mascot. He’s helping K gain recognition and students gain opportunities in their field.

“I bought it right away last summer when the Bookstore restocked them because I thought it was the cutest thing,” Arias-Rotondo said. “I thought it would be fun to take him places and he made his debut at the fall ACS (American Chemical Society) conference in Chicago last year. I tweeted beforehand that I was going to have this little guy with me, and I asked, ‘Who else is going to be at the conference?’ It was really fun because a lot of people were excited about it.”

Arias-Rotondo’s lab develops molecules that absorb energy from light while transforming that energy into electricity. Bippy gets his name from 2,2’-bipyridine, which is a key part of [Ru(bpy)3]2+, a ruthenium compound nicknamed “Rubpy.” Ruthenium is a rare and expensive metal.

Rubpy “is a molecule that has been key in the development of photophysics and photocatalysis because it works so well,” Arias-Rotondo said. “One of the problems with it is that it’s very expensive, so we keep trying to find alternatives that are cheaper, greener and more Earth friendly. Yet we use it for now, so Bippy’s name is a nod to a molecule that has had a huge impact on my career and on the field.”

In the meantime, Arias-Rotondo’s reach on Twitter has allowed chemists from all over the world to see Bippy’s pictures and learn about Arias-Rotondo’s and her students’ accomplishments.

“It’s a way for me to say on Twitter, ‘You know me and these are my students,’” Arias-Rotondo said. “I can invite others to go talk to them even if they’re at a conference when I’m not. It’s definitely generating visibility, and if it generates visibility for me and the College, it benefits my students, too, because at the end of the day, they are the ones who need the most opportunities.”

Last winter, Arias-Rotondo wanted Caelan Frazier ’23 and Shay Brown ’23 to take Bippy to the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Conference in Orlando, Florida. Frazier, a Kalamazoo native, plans to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan and he credits K for preparing him for that with benefits such as small class sizes in a supportive environment and a study abroad experience in Northern Ireland.

Five students and a professor posing with Bippy under a sign that says Proud Chemist
Shay Brown ’23 (from left), Crystal Mendoza ’23, Lindsey Baker ’24, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Caelan Frazier ’23 pose with Bippy at the American Chemical Society Conference in Indianapolis.

Bippy, however, Frazier was unsure of—at least at first.

“At the time I thought, ‘I don’t really know why you want me to take him, but I’m going to trust you on this one,’” he said.

Any remaining skepticism melted away when reputable scientists approached Frazier’s and Brown’s poster presentations to learn about their work, and of course, meet Bippy.

“He ended up being very helpful,” Frazier said. “We sat at a table with a few of the people that Dr. DAR told us to talk to, and immediately three of them said, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s Bippy from Twitter! I know who you guys are.’ It was an incredible conversation starter.”

Since then, Frazier, Brown, Lindsey Baker ’24, Crystal Mendoza ’23 and Maxwell Rhames ’25 have attended the spring ACS conference in Indianapolis with Bippy to similar fanfare for the cuddly plushy, not to mention their work.

Frazier poses with Bippy at his poster presentation
Frazier poses with Bippy at his poster presentation.
Abby Barnum '23 with Bippy at her poster presentation
Abby Barnum ’23 poses with Bippy during a recent conference.

“Obviously, Bippy doesn’t directly influence the work that we do, but he very much helps us look forward to presenting it,” Frazier said. “He has shown me that when you go to these conferences and you’re meeting some of the biggest names in science from around the world, they’re still people. And when they see this stuffed animal you’re carrying around, 90% of them are going, ‘Oh, that’s cute. I wonder what that’s about’ and ‘I want to learn more about that.’ I think it’s really important to have that comfort.”

And as beneficial as Bippy is now for her students, Arias-Rotondo hopes his influence will continue in the years ahead.

“We could just have a unicorn or a random stuffed animal, but institutional visibility is important, so the addition of the brand right on Bippy helps a lot,” she said. “I want other students to also get those opportunities and I want people to say, ‘Oh, Kalamazoo College. They put out good chemistry students.’” 

K Student Builds Notable Voice in Sustainability

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City businesses and officials are taking note of a Kalamazoo College student’s Senior Integrated Project (SIP), which quickly has made her a recognizable local voice in sustainability.

Since 2021, Lauren Crossman ’23, a political science major, has worked at Bee Joyful Shop, a store on Kalamazoo’s downtown walking mall that features locally made, zero-waste products for homes, kitchens, baths and beauty routines. She got the job after interviewing women who opened businesses during the pandemic for a journalism class, including the owners of Mason Jar Plant Shop, Colors and Cocktails, Kalamazoo Fashion House and Bee Joyful.

Through Bee Joyful, Crossman developed a passion for sustainability; however, by the time she realized that interest exceeded her love of political science, it seemed too late to change her major or add an environmental studies concentration. That’s when Jeanne Hess—a Bee Joyful customer and city commissioner who retired in 2019 from K as a physical education professor and volleyball coach—planted an interesting idea. She suggested that Crossman create her own internship based on sustainability at Bee Joyful, an idea that also provided a formative plan for Crossman’s SIP.

Bee Joyful owner Jessica Thompson provided enthusiastic approvals and a few ideas on how that internship would work.

“Jessica said she had actually been thinking about creating a week of sustainability events, or I could go talk to other businesses on the mall and see if we can get them to be more on board with different ways to reduce waste and make them all greener,” Crossman said.

Crossman started the internship by researching environmentally friendly business practices involving ideas from cocktail straws to packaging materials. All of it had the potential to help businesses reduce waste and save money. Yet then came the tough part: Crossman began to cold call and visit 22 small businesses in Kalamazoo to discuss their environmental practices, present an environmental report card, and help them create sustainability-related goals.

“It was something that was way outside of my comfort zone,” Crossman said. “I remember talking to my family and friends and saying, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this.’ I had this feeling that no one was going to take me seriously because they didn’t know me. I was this random student from K College who wanted to talk about the environment.”

Regardless, Crossman pursued the work and said the conversations generally went well.

“A lot of those businesses at first said, ‘I’m just trying to keep the lights on and pay the bills,’ so there were uncomfortable points,” she said. “Others thought it was a nice conversation to have, but it might not make a difference. But I was surprised at how many of the business owners appreciated just starting the conversation.”

As those conversations developed, business owners began to see that even small gestures could make big differences as Crossman provided resource guides, viewable through the Instagram profile link @sustainable.kzoo.businesses, that were specific to retail stores, restaurants, salons, brick-and-mortar locations and online businesses.

“I was trying to highlight that there are so many ways businesses can be sustainable, in big ways or small ways, down to the type of tape they use to ship out boxes,” Crossman said. “It all can make a difference. I brought all those guides with me to each of the businesses and shared that information, and we worked through the eco report cards that had around 20 business practices. I got down to fine details like having LED lights or asking vendors to ship products without plastic, so they could see a wide variety of what they could do.

“The eco report cards were helpful because businesses could use them as a starting point to say, ‘we’re doing a lot of really good things, and there are ways we can improve,’” she added. “I feel putting that information together grounded me so I could go in and talk to the business owners.”

With happy business owners starting to save money and be more sustainable, Crossman presented her work at the Kalamazoo State Theatre in March during Green Drinks Kalamazoo, a monthly networking event of city businesses and friends that addresses sustainability. At the event, Professor of History Charlene Boyer Lewis, serving as Crossman’s SIP advisor, spoke up to let Crossman and the crowd know that Crossman had earned honors on her SIP. And next, Crossman plans to offer her report to Hess, who regularly attends the city’s environmental concerns committee, to ask for her opinions.

“We have opportunities in Kalamazoo that aren’t being seized and I think there’s so much potential for impact and people are already willing to make changes,” Crossman said. “But nobody’s holding them accountable. I think that was the biggest part of the critique. I think it’s important information for somebody to see, because the businesses are willing to make changes, but what’s the city’s role now and what are they doing, too?”

In the meantime, Crossman can provide a sustainability leader’s view of Earth Day, celebrated every April 22, the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

“I feel like there’s a lot of good that can be done on Earth Day, but we can’t forget about the rest of the days of the year,” Crossman said. “I don’t want people to think that if they say no to a straw one day of the year that they’re doing enough. Helping the environment needs to be a lifestyle change. We can’t just talk about climate change one day of the year. It must be a pressing conversation all the time, because it’s a pressing problem all the time.”

Sustainability SIP writer Lauren Crossman at Bee Joyful Shop
Lauren Crossman ’23 works at Bee Joyful Shop, a store on Kalamazoo’s downtown walking mall that features locally made, zero-waste products for homes, kitchens, baths and beauty routines.
Lauren Crossman presents her sustainability SIP at Green Drinks Kalamazoo
Crossman presented her work at the Kalamazoo State Theatre during Green Drinks Kalamazoo, a monthly networking event of city businesses and friends that addresses sustainability.
Lauren Crossman and Bee Joyful Shop owner Jessica Thompson
Bee Joyful owner Jessica Thompson enthusiastically approved of Crossman’s ideas for an internship based on sustainability at her shop.