Analyze
this...and that
Composition, structure, function—
and how they relate—are the fundamen- tal issues for SAIL, the new Skidmore Analytics Interdisciplinary Laboratory. Established with the aid of a two-year National Science Foundation grant of nearly $550,000, the lab will provide high-tech scientific instruments and the capabilities to support research from ar- chaeology to zoology.
The faculty members behind the ini- tiative are Cathy Gibson (principal in- vestigator for the NSF grant) in environ- mental studies, David Domozych and Josh Ness in biology, Kim Frederick in chemistry, and Heather Hurst ’97 in an- thropology. Gibson says all of them are interested in “figuring out the building blocks” that com- pose the struc- tures and systems they study, from her own stream eco system chem- istry to Hurst’s
Domo-
ozych says gas chro- matogra- phy and mass spec - trometry will let
“WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT TRAINING
OUR STUDENTS ON THE LATEST
INSTRUMENTATION. WE CAN USE
THIS EQUIPMENT TO ASK CUTTING-
EDGE QUESTIONS, AND TO GET THE ANSWERS.”
ancient Maya paintings. The grant will help purchase sophisticated new spec- trometers, chromatographs, and other gear, enabling them to identify, measure, and track chemicals from ions to meta- bolic gases and more.
Idea interchange
If a college is a marketplace of ideas, Skidmore has been a bustling bazaar, with guest lectures such as:
• “Envisioning the Other: Does the Bible Promote Intolerance?” by Joel Kamin- sky, Smith College
• “The Obama Effect and the Diversity Experience in ‘Post-Racial’ America” (Zankel Professorship Forum), by Karen Ashcraft, University of Colorado
• “Googling, the Instrumented Web, Privacy, and You,” by Greg Conti, US Military Academy
• “Race in Cuba: Afro-Cubans, African Americans, and the Politics of Revolu- tion, 1959–61,” by Devyn Spence Ben- son, Williams College
• “Triggering Change: Hip Hop, Media Justice, and Social Responsibility,” by Carlos McBride, University of Massa- chusetts at Amherst
• “The Making of the Internal Ene my,” by Joaquín Chá vez, UWW ’03, United Nations De- velopment Program in El Salvador
• “We are All Terror- ists: From the Tarnac 9 to the SHAC 7, Counterterrorist
Policies in France and the USA,” by Steve Best, University of Texas at El Paso, and Bill Brown, Not Bored e-zine
• “Vagabond Expressions: Explorations in Gender, Acting, and Activism” (Skid- more Pride Alliance keynoter), by Daniela Sea, artist, actor, musician
• “Rotating Galaxies and Dark Matter” (Distinguished Scientist Lecture), by Vera Rubin, Carnegie Institution
• “Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet” (Strock Lecture), by Steve Squyres, Cornell University
• “The Designer as Author” (Malloy Lec- ture), by Ellen Lupton, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
SPRING 2010 SCOPE 7
him index the various sugars pass- ing through and stored in the cell walls of algae and plants; a new in- frared microscope will allow “fast and accurate biochemical finger- printing” of those cell structures. He notes, “Previ- ously we’ve had to wait to receive such analyses from other labs.” For Ness, “Re - cording the dis-
tribution of organisms doesn’t fully capture how a forest ‘works.’” But SAIL’s portable gas-exchange meter can com- plement his North Woods census data with more metabolic measures—of “the CO2 being taken up by individual leaves,
or how the soil (‘dirt,’ roots, de composing leaves, mi- crobes, etc.) breathes— which can help us quan- tify a forest’s potential for carbon seques- tration.” He’s eager to get his hands on other new gear, too, for such studies as nutrient
com positions that can elucidate
a leaf’s capacity for photosynthesis. Gibson says, “We're excited about training our students on the latest in- strumentation. We can use this equip- ment to ask cutting-edge questions, and to get the answers.” Some 400 students a year are expected to work with the new gear as part of collaborative research, thesis projects, or coursework. One more highlight of the project Gibson is pleased to point out: “It in- volves a mix of faculty at different career levels, which shows how strong and active the research sciences are at Skid-
more.” —AW, SR
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