Science summit announced

Skidmore wants all its graduates to be science-literate, so they can navigate and even shape the crucial problems and opportunities of our increasingly tech-driven world. One initiative toward this end is the planned Center for Integrated Sciences, to be built in the heart of campus; another is this month's Science Summit with alumni, faculty and students. Free and public, the event takes place Saturday, October 26, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Making a science-filled weekend, the following day is an admissions open house for prospective students interested in studying math or science.

The Science Summit will address both "the grand challenges in health care and the frontiers of science and entrepreneurship," says Kim Frederick, professor of chemistry. And it's "not just a spectator event. Participants will be invited to join these important conversations at the forefront of science and society." They can also meet with and ask questions of students presenting posters on their research.

The keynote speaker is Cynthia Green, a psychologist and a professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (and the mother of Skidmore junior Jonah Jablons). An Alzheimer's researcher, she founded Mt. Sinai Medical Center's memory enhancement program as well as the Memory Arts firm and Total Brain Health education program. An author and blogger, she is a popular speaker and has appeared in media from Good Morning America to the New York Times.

The summit includes two panels, "The Evolving Landscape of Medical Science" and "Entrepreneurism and Science." With moderator Pat Fehling, from Skidmore's health and exercise sciences faculty, the medical panel features five alumni:

Felicia Axelrod '62 created a center for familial dysautonomia, a neurodegenerative disorder, at NYU Medical Center. Over four decades, her clinical research into FD has dramatically improved life for her patients. She and a Harvard colleague identified an FD gene in 2001 and are working on potential genetic therapies.

Joshua Boyce '81 is director of allergy and associate chief of rheumatology, immunology, and allergy at Brigham and Women's Hospital. As Sheffer Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, he researches allergic inflammation, particularly lipid mediation and mast cells.  

Kevin Hill '95 teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs substance-abuse counseling at McLean Hospital. He has a small private practice, works with professional athletes and others with addictions, and conducts school outreach. His recent research has examined nabilone as a treatment for marijuana dependence.

Brooke Miller '99 is on the faculty of the University of Florida medical school and McKnight Brain Institute. Her cross-disciplinary research probes the genetics and genomics of psychiatric disorders and works at the cellular, molecular, and behavioral levels, seeking new pathways and targets for drug development.

Diana Perry '89 is associate director of the neonatal intensive-care unit at South Shore Hospital, an attending neonatal physician at Boston Children's Hospital and a clinical instructor in pediatrics at Harvard. Since 2009 she has also been a member of the Women in Science Committee at Boston's Museum of Science, encouraging girls to study science and enter the medical field.

Subtitled "The Intersection of Science, Technology, and Commerce," the entrepreneurism panel is moderated by Cathy Hill, Skidmore's Harder Professor of Business Administration and founder of energy consulting firm CooperHill. Its alumni panelists include:

Jon Brestoff Parker '08 is co-founder and CEO of Symmetry Therapeutics, an obesity research firm. Just finishing an M.D./Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, he has continued to work with his Skidmore faculty mentor T. H. Reynolds; the pair have earned three patents. Their work focuses on a triglyceride-fighting antioxidant and its potential in obesity treatments.

Jason Lowenstein '03 is a vice president at OwnEnergy. He developed a proprietary geographical data system to facilitate in-depth, desktop feasibility studies for wind-energy projects. He also manages OwnEnergy's wind-resource assessments, data quality control, turbine layouts, and tower installations.

Courtney Mattison '08 creates intricate and accurate sculptures of marine life that highlight its beauty and vulnerability. One example is the 15- by 11-foot, 1,500-pound Our Changing Seas I: A Coral Reef Story, on display at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., which shows a healthy reef growing bleached and smothered in algae.