Illuminating chemistry
Just as sunlight affects plant and animal chemistry, it also affects airborne the
chemistry of dust, ash, and other particulates in our atmosphere, where this photochemistry
plays a big role in the greenhouse effect and climate change. Students in Assistant Professor Juan Navea's lab this summer are pinning down details of the sun's influence on molecules ranging
from hydrocarbons and sea spray to nitrogen oxides and nitrous acid.
Navea's group is among scores of students spending much of this summer at Skidmore
in full-time, intensive, solo or small-team research with a faculty collaborator. More than 30 are doing lab science, pursuing the secrets of tRNA synthesis, ocean-particle
sampling technologies, eye-tracking in reading, the physiology of firefighting and
more. Other students are engaging in a wide range of humanities, social sciences,
arts and interdisciplinary work.
Summer collaborative researchers get a stipend and campus housing-and often co-authorship
on a journal article, website or other presentation of their work to the wider professional
academic community. With that kind of value-added learning, summer research is a popular
option year after year. [view video]
