Summer Blogs at R-MC

Summer Blogging at R-MC

Research. Internships. An excavation in Greece. For Randolph-Macon College students, summer is the perfect time to discover new worlds.

Some participate in the college’s Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. With the guidance of their professors, SURF students spend the summer conducting research and soaking up new and innovative information in across-the-board subjects, from mathematics to chemistry to religious studies. For example, Blair Ringley ’11 will research red wines from various locations to determine if factors, including region of vinification, percent composition, and the grapes from which the wine is made, alter the levels of antioxidants. James Street ’11 will be researching two areas of mathematics called graph theory and knot theory, both of which are subcategories of a much more broadly-defined area called topology. Other students choose to participate in internships. R-MC offers a wide variety of internship opportunities. This summer, Morgan DeAmicis ’11 will intern at the Make-a-Wish Foundation, while Martha Vlahakis ’11 will intern at Partnership for Families Northside. Katie Dunn ’12 will intern at Goodwill Industries and Justine Armes ’11 will intern at the Children’s Museum of Richmond.

Several students will spend the summer in Athens, Greece as they excavate ancient ruins under the direction of R-MC Professor John Camp II, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor in Classics. The students, known as Stavros Niarchos Foundation Summer Fellows, will sift through history and hone their archaeological skills as they explore the Agora, a site which served as the civic center and heart of Athens. The Agora also contains some of the most important buildings and artifacts of any ancient site and was the place where Socrates and Plato debated the foundations of modern philosophy. Becky Johnsen ’10, Nikki Carroll ’10 and Krystin Husz ’12 are three of the R-MC students who are sojourning to Athens this summer.

You can follow the work of these R-MC students through their online blogs. Throughout the summer, they will be posting blog entries with updates on their research, discoveries and experiences on the R-MC website. They’ll also be posting photos.

Get ready to tag along as you follow R-MC students in their exciting explorations.

	De-mystifying Phillipe de Mezieres version of the Griselda story. Aliya Headley		The Evolution of Multiple, Sexually Selected Traits: Song and Plumage in Prothonotary warblers (Protonotaria citrea). Amanda Steinagel
	Niarchos Fellows the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Summer Fellow Becky Johnsen		Antioxidant Activity and Phenolics Content of Selected Red Wine Grape Varietals. Blair Ringley
	The effect of decreased immunity on reproductive success in male Prothonotary Warblers, Protonotaria citrea. Cara Carne		The Effect of Environment on Anxiety and Memory. Casey Kaufman
	Star Wars, an American Mythology: The Influences of Ancient Mythology and the 'Western' film genre on George Lucas' Trilogy and its Impact on American Society. Cassie Morgan		On the Equivalency of Knot and Graph Invariants. James Street
	Robins Foundation Summer Non-Profit Internship: Children's Museum Justine Armes		Robins Foundation Summer Non-Profit Internship: Goodwill Industries Katie Dunn
	Activation of small molecules by platinum-phosphinoferrocene complexes. Lauren Wood		The Synthesis of Heterocyclic Inhibitors of the Dengue Virus NS3 Protease. Kimberly Potter
	Niarchos Fellows the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Summer Fellow Krystin Husz		Robins Foundation Summer Non-Profit Internship: Partnership for Families Northside Martha Vlahakis
	The Effects of Effort-Driven Rewards on Cardiovascular Fitness and Immune Function in Rattus Norvegicus. Michael True		Robins Foundation Summer Non-Profit Internship: Make-A-Wish Foundation Morgan DeAmicis
	Stabilization of the West Nile Virus Envelope Protein at a Low pH. Nathan Stiener		Randolph-Macon College and Endowed Scholarships: An Exploration of the Philanthropists and Their Connections to the College. Sascha Shahramfar