Hobart and William Smith Colleges

STEM @ HWS A - Z

 

In the classroom and in the field, students, faculty and staff bring the world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to life, shaping the future one breakthrough at a time. Here’s a glimpse of the cutting-edge research and unique opportunities that fuel discovery and innovation on campus, and the people and passions that make HWS a hub for excellence in STEM.

Algae

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been reported in the Finger Lakes for more than a century, but recent monitoring suggests these toxic events are becoming more frequent. HWS scientists are getting to the bottom of why.

Joined by student researchers, recently retired Professor of Environmental Studies John Halfman, Associate Professor of Physics Ileana Dumitriu and Director of the Finger Lakes Institute Lisa Cleckner have been monitoring water quality and mapping HABs throughout the Finger Lakes using aerial drones and the William Scandling, HWS’ research vessel. In 2023, Halfman, Dumitriu, Cleckner and JoAnna Shaw ’22 published a study in the science journal Water showing that HABs are supercharged by a warming climate, nutrients from nearshore organic matter and agricultural runoff from large, intense rainstorms.

Last summer, Professor of Geoscience Tara Curtin and a team of students approached the question from another angle. Analyzing biological, geochemical and physical evidence preserved in sediment records from several of the Finger Lakes, their work underscores the environmental drivers associated with the blooms — and the urgency of addressing them.

Brain Network

The processes of the human brain are governed by a vast network of neural connections. To understand how those connections operate, Associate Professor of Psychological Science Daniel Graham is weaving neuroscience with fields such as computer science and physics.

In his book, An Internet in Your Head, Graham explores the parallels between the internet and the brain — highly connected systems without a central control. He sees this comparison as an opportunity for new avenues of research, allowing neuroscientists to unravel the brain’s routing mechanisms and help unlock its deepest secrets.

“To a scientist, metaphor doesn’t solve a problem,” he explains. “Metaphor says, ‘Look here, not over there.’”

Graham has put the metaphor to the test in his collaborations with Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Yan Hao, using computer simulations to model brain network communication methods. Meanwhile, a recent publication by Graham and Professor of Physics

Cancer

Curing cancer starts at the molecular level. This is the premise behind the work of several strands of research at HWS. Professor of Chemistry Kristin Slade and student researchers are developing mutant variants of malate dehydrogenase (MDH), a critical enzyme in the human metabolic system. The inability to turn off this enzyme has been linked to certain types of cancers. To better understand this relationship, Slade’s research group is studying how the MDH mutants function with and without the chemical on/off switch that regulates the enzyme.

Meanwhile, Professor of Chemistry Justin Miller’s lab is producing molecules that inhibit histone deacetylase (HDAC), another class of enzymes linked to cancer. Those molecules are then lab tested through a collaboration with Professor of Biology Sigrid Carle ’84. Likewise, Professor of Chemistry Erin Pelkey and his organic chemistry students synthesize new compounds, which Professor of Biology Patricia Mowery and her students analyze to confirm whether they can kill cancer cells.

Last fall, Mowery and Pelkey were awarded a $386,781 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop drugs that target tubulin, a critical cellular protein and a common target for cancer treatments. Through the interdisciplinary mentoring research program, Mowery, Pelkey and undergraduate researchers previously developed a molecule that prevented tubulin polymerization and had toxic effects on cancer cells. The results appeared in three articles in the journal Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, featuring 27 HWS student co-authors.

With this new grant, Mowery and Pelkey will tackle the problems common to other inhibitors, guiding student research to develop more potent and effective therapeutics. In other words, they note, “we will perform basic research to improve anticancer agents while training the next generation of scientists.”

Data Mining

The rise of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) offers an important advancement in data mining to quickly identify hidden patterns in vast amounts of data. Assistant Professor of Math and Computer Science Hanqing Hu is dissecting the structures of LLMs, exploring how they might be modified to improve robotic navigation and reduce operating costs for drones.

Evolution

Plants, animals, humanity, the Earth itself — how did it all develop and how is it all connected? From different starting points, Associate Professor of Geoscience David Kendrick, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Joe Rusinko and Associate Professor of Biology Shannon Straub are each pursuing the complexities of evolution. Kendrick’s scholarship focuses on the historical evolution of crinoids, marine invertebrates such as sea lilies or feather stars. Rusinko’s work combines tools from mathematics, statistics and computer science to develop computational and theoretical tools for more accurate models of evolution. Focusing on plant systematics and genome structure, Straub studies the milkweed and dogbane family (Apocynaceae), using gene and genome sequencing to infer evolutionary relationships among hundreds of species across millions of years.

Fruit fly

How does the fly on the wall build an eye to see its world? Professor of Biology Kristy Kenyon’s research offers some clues. Kenyon studies the development of sensory systems using the model systems of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) and Xenopus laevis (clawed frogs). Her research aims to discover how embryonic cells create complex systems of detection and response. Kenyon and her students examine patterns of gene expression in transgenic organisms using a variety of techniques (e.g., fluorescence microscopy, shown below). This research has important implications for human development and disease grounded in the evolutionary relationships shared across phyla.

Gravitational Waves

First predicted more than 100 years ago by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, gravitational waves are the ripples in the fabric of spacetime that allow scientists to observe black hole systems and neutron stars many lightyears away. Associate Professor of Physics Steve Penn, who contributed to the Nobel-winning research that confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, is now leading a project to further refine the sensitivity of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, the instrument used to observe gravitational waves. The research is supported by a $1,077,454 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Hogweed

Did you know a single plant could harm human health, jeopardize water quality and disrupt local ecosystems? Meet giant hogweed, an invasive menace that grows over 10 feet tall and produces a toxic sap that causes severe skin reactions when exposed to sunlight. The plant’s rapid growth chokes out native species, while its large roots contribute to soil erosion, degrading water quality in nearby lakes and streams.

Enter HWS’ Finger Lakes Institute. With a $400,000 USDA grant, the FLI, in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, tackled 243 infested sites and monitored 100 more last summer. Combining mechanical and chemical approaches to curb the spread, FLI also led a robust community outreach initiative, strengthening local efforts to identify and eradicate the plant.

Infrared

Consider the rainbow produced by a prism: different wavelengths of light, bending at varying angles due to their respective speeds in the glass. Relying on the same principle, HWS scientists are using spectroscopy to reveal the chemical signatures of elements and compounds and their unique applications in everything from computer engineering to art. Professor of Chemistry Walter Bowyer’s research reaches into the past with techniques including infrared spectrum analysis to reveal how ancient peoples created pigments to make paints and dyes. For Professor of Chemistry Christine de Denus and her research students, infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis illuminate the conductive properties of inorganic molecular wire candidates. This cutting-edge work paves the way for alternatives to silicon chip technology, potentially revolutionizing the future of computing.

Joint Degree

Through the HWS Physics Department, students are introduced to foundational concepts and training for careers in engineering fields. To support this work, a joint-degree partnership in engineering enables students to earn a bachelor’s degree from HWS and another from either Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science or Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering.

Kepler

NASA’s deep space telescope launched in 2009 on a planet-hunting mission that lasted more than nine years and detected more than 2,700 new extra-solar planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. Scientists, including Associate Professor of Physics Leslie Hebb, continue to pour over data from the Kepler mission to better understand these planetary systems. A National Science Foundation grant supported Hebb’s investigation of Kepler data, which resulted in the discovery of two distinct planet classes, what she and her coauthors dubbed sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. Published in the Astronomical Journal, the research details for the first time the boundary between rocky planets like Earth and gaseous planets like Neptune or Jupiter. This means that “with a relatively simple measurement...we can now easily determine whether a planet is rocky...and thus determine the specific planets that have the greatest suitability for life,” Hebb explained at the time.

The exploration of extra-solar planets continues with students like Biruk Nardos ’25, whose work with Hebb “laid the foundation for my astronomical research,” he explains. As they now try to understand the interior structure of exoplanets, Nardos says, “I learned how to think like a researcher, critically analyze data and apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems. These skills were invaluable as I took on more complex challenges” that led to off-campus summer research and a presentation at the American Astronomical Society conference.”

Lake Effect

Historically, research on lakeeffect snowstorms over the Great Lakes has focused on storms produced over one or two lakes, but an HWS-led study is looking at the broader region. Led by Professor of Geoscience Neil Laird, a threeyear National Science Foundationfunded project is compiling the most expansive and comprehensive lakeeffect snow database in existence for the Great Lakes.

Laird and Caitlin Crossett ’15, an assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of North Carolina Asheville, recently published a study of lake-effect weather throughout the entire Great Lakes region from the late 1990s through the early part of this decade. With this broader view, they found that large-scale weather patterns set the stage for lake-effect snow across the region, producing “lake-to-lake snow bands,” Laird explains. Knowing the pattern “can help forecasters identify when these widespread lake-effect days are likely to occur and…anticipate lake-to-lake snow bands in specific regions.”

Microplastics

Ultrafine plastic fragments have been found in deep ocean sediments, Arctic ice, wildlife, drinking water and human food sources — everything from seafood to honey. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Professor of Geoscience Nan Crystal Arens and student researchers are investigating how this plastic pollution moves into, around and through the Finger Lakes watershed, and what it means for local residents.

Arens’ interest in microplastics began during a department-sponsored field course in the Bahamas, but with travel restrictions during the pandemic, she shifted her focus to local waters. With previously little documentation of microplastic levels in the Finger Lakes, the three-year NSF grant enables 12 students annually to develop their own areas of focus at sites throughout the region with guidance from Arens, Professor of Biology Meghan Brown and Professor of Chemistry Walter Bowyer, and collaborators from the City College of New York.

As this next phase of research begins, Arens is eager to understand the full scope of microplastics’ impact, both on the Finger Lakes environment and on its residents. She and student researchers will investigate the movement of microplastics through the watershed, paying close attention to the ways this pollution enters drinking water and food sources.

“There are a lot of ways that microplastics might be harmful to humans, but we don’t have a ton of evidence — yet,” she says.

Neural Simulation

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Chris Fietkiewicz’s recent research on neural simulation highlights the intricate interplay between brain dynamics and body mechanics. Integrating neural and biomechanical modeling, Fietkiewicz and his collaborators, including student researchers, simulate various neuromechanical systems to better understand conditions such as Parkinson’s and model more effective and personalized treatments.

Ornithology

The Finger Lakes Region is home to more than 200 species of birds. In courses with Professor of Biology Mark Deutschlander, a past president of the Wilson Ornithological Society and an expert on songbird migration, students explore local sites like Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to study the habitats that support the diversity of birdlife in the region. For more than 20 years, students interested in conservation and wildlife research have applied ornithological knowledge to a summer internship program with the internationally recognized Audubon Seabird Restoration Program in the Gulf of Maine, supporting all aspects of seabird research, monitoring and management. This program has been an important stepping stone for many students pursuing careers in conservation, and offering an annual internship with Audubon is a unique opportunity provided by HWS.

Politics

Amid seemingly intractable political polarization, HWS Psychological Science faculty are investigating how perceptions are formed and take root. Assistant Professor Stephanie Anglin and Associate Professor Emily Fisher are each navigating the complex intersection of ideological beliefs, motivated reasoning and political psychology. Anglin’s research explores how and whether people’s entrenched beliefs, particularly about science, yield to empirical evidence. Fisher’s work explores similar terrain, studying how individuals use information selectively to support group beliefs or psychological needs. With faculty colleagues in the Departments of Geoscience, Politics and Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Fisher has detailed how cognitive preferences and political predispositions influence attitudes about everything from climate change to community building.

Quantum mechanics

Over the past century, quantum mechanics has revealed that, at the most basic level, the world works in ways we would not expect based on our everyday experiences. Quantum mechanics is also the arena in which Professors of Physics Ted Allen and Don Spector are advancing our understanding of the universe. Allen is currently tackling the long-standing question of how protons and neutrons, as well as exotic objects like pions and kaons, are formed by the interactions between subatomic particles called quarks. Spector is developing new mathematical tools to represent how information about particles is encoded at the quantum level. Together, they are giving us deeper insights into the quantum realm.

Remote Sensing

Vast spans of time and space aren’t preventing Professor of Environmental Studies Kristen Brubaker and Professor of Biology Brad Cosentino from studying how ecosystems develop and adapt to significant change. Using satellite images and remote sensing data such as LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), Brubaker and Cosentino have detailed how forest vegetation and salamanders have been impacted by historic agricultural land use in the Finger Lakes National Forest, offering valuable insights for landscape restoration initiatives and climate policy.

In a recent publication in Environmental Research Letters, Cosentino collaborated with an international research team to detail how the eradication of invasive species supports biodiversity and carbon sequestration in island ecosystems. Their analysis relied on 36 years of satellite data as well as high-resolution estimates of tree cover produced by advanced AI and cloud computing to fill gaps in existing satellite data. The research team will expand the monitoring framework as part of a four-year grant from NASA awarded in 2024.

“The ultimate goal is to develop a decision support tool that our global nonprofit and government agency partners can use to make informed decisions about where to remove invasive mammals to maximize benefits for both biodiversity and people on islands,” Cosentino says.

Stress

In the Department of Psychological Science, Professors Jamie Bodenlos and Julie Kingery are investigating stress and its impact on college students’ mental health. Their recent publication in the Journal of American College Health reveals how mindfulness—the practice of staying present and aware—can disrupt cognitive distortions tied to anxiety, depression and stress. Their findings suggest that mindfulness may ease psychological distress, particularly for female-identifying students, and offer a promising strategy for campus mental health support. Both professors integrate mindfulness research into their courses on developmental psychology, clinical psychology and child psychology.

Testing

For more than a decade, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Jonathan Forde has been using mathematical modeling to explore the ways diseases like hepatitis and HIV spread and interact with treatments. Since 2020, his work has expanded to the coronavirus, applying those models to dial in testing approaches and vaccination schedules.

Urbanization

Locally, regionally and internationally, HWS researchers are exploring the ways that human encroachment is impacting wildlife and their habitats.

Professor of Practice Susan Cushman ’98 and student researchers are studying long-term effects of pollution on the water quality and aquatic life in Castle Creek, which flows from rural agricultural landscapes through suburbia and into dense urban areas of Geneva.

Professor of Biology Brad Cosentino has been leading a study of eastern gray squirrels and the ways city environments shape their evolution. With the support of a National Science Foundation grant, student researchers and a community of more than 10,000 citizen scientists, the project aims to answer why squirrels’ coats vary in color between cities and rural areas.

Meanwhile, during a recent semester abroad in Australia, students planted 250 native trees to aid native habitat restoration. Part an urban ecology course taught by Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Beth Kinne and Associate Professor of Biology Shannon Straub, the project supported efforts to mitigate the impacts of urbanization on the city of Brisbane.

Volcano

During “Geology of the Pacific Northwest,” Associate Professors of Geoscience Tara Curtin and Dave Finkelstein led students across the coast and mountains of the Pacific Northwest exploring the geology, climatology and aquatic science of the region. The intensive 12-day field excursion of Washington and Oregon began with an up-close study of Mt. St. Helens, where the group observed evidence of eruptions from nearly 2,000 years ago and May 1980. On the Oregon coast, students investigated the evolution of shorelines before traveling inland to compare lake chemistry while crossing the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains in the high desert. In central Oregon, they explored the McKenzie River headwaters, the Newberry Volcanic Complex and Crater Lake, reconstructing the events that formed the deepest lake in the U.S.

Xerophyte

Among the 170 specimens in the plant collection in the HWS Greenhouse, you’ll find pineapple, agave, prickly pear and various members of the euphorbia family — all part of the xerophyte family, plants that thrive in dry environments thanks to adaptations to minimize water loss and maximize water storage.

You’ll also find Animal and Plant Technician John Knouse, who has thoughtfully curated the collection since joining HWS in 2023. Today, the collection represents 62 families (roughly 10 percent of the total number of plant families in the world), including plants with historical, cultural, economic and agricultural significance. Knouse’s regular email updates share developments from the greenhouse with the campus community, shedding light on various mysteries and wonders in the plant kingdom. With subject lines like, “What’s that smell?” about a blooming Orbea variegata (a.k.a. the carrion flower) — which has “the texture of gecko skin and the aroma of trash left in the sun for a few days,” as Knouse explained — dispatches from the HWS greenhouse have become a mustread among students, faculty and staff. Associate Professor of Biology shares that Orbea variegata produces that foul odor to attract fly pollinators.

Y-Axis

In graph theory, a branch of discrete mathematics, the Y-axis doesn’t matter. Nor does the X. Whereas the graph of a function is drawn on the xy-plane, a graph in discrete mathematics is drawn as a series of points (called vertices) joined by lines (called edges).

“Suppose after a snowstorm you want to plow all the streets in the town in such a way that you do not have to drive over the same street twice,” says Associate Professor of Mathematics Erika King. By using a graph to represent intersections (vertices) and streets (edges), the question becomes “Can you start at a vertex and travel through the graph crossing every edge but without repeating any edges?”

King, whose Honors and summer research work with students has resulted in a number of publications, says that “many questions can become easier by modeling them with graphs and using the theory of graphs to answer the question.” Part of the joy is “the beauty of how concepts fit together. I love graph theory because it is very visual and that makes it more accessible to people who do not have much mathematical experience.”

Zooplankton

The spiny waterflea. The fishhook waterflea. The bloody red shrimp. Since their arrival in North America over the past several decades, these non-native microscopic animals have upset the biological systems in the lakes and rivers where they’ve established, including the Finger Lakes. In her research, Professor of Biology Meghan Brown has explored the conditions that encouraged these invasive zooplankton to take root and how the lakes where they’ve established are changing as a result.