Olivia DrakeJelle Zelinga de Boer, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, was cited in April 3 edition of The Hartford Courant. In an article titled " Remnants Of Old Mine In Middletown Date to Revolutionary Times," de Boer explains why an abandoned silver mine in Middletown, Conn. played a supporting role in the history of the country's industrial past. According to de Boer, the Middletown mine was originally opened to mine lead and was one of only two sites in New England that produced the metal for the Continental Army during the early stages of the Revolutionary War. The…
Through film, eco-activist, and reality television star Shalini Kantayya will speak about the global water crisis during Wesleyan's Earth Day Celebration April 15. "Water is life," says Kantayya, the event's keynote speaker. "We are facing a world water crisis. A world in which nations are at war for water and every drop is for sale." The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Cinema. Kantayya will discuss her film, “a DROP of LIFE”, which will be viewed following her presentation. "a DROP of LIFE," is a futuristic sci-fi flick about the mounting global water crisis. It…
The 2009 Olla Podrida yearbook staff is making award-winning memories this year. The book, which focuses on the theme, "Expressions of Memory," is adhering to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's award guidelines. Since 1935, the CSPA has sponsored annual contests to honor best practices in student writing, editing and yearbook publishing. "In the past, our yearbooks have been more like scrapbooks of students' senior year, but this year, we're more structured and we're creating a more professional book," says the yearbook's editor-in-chief Luz Burgos '09. "We're building a new foundation so yearbooks after this one will constantly improve." The Olla…
Errors in genomic DNA can lead to tumors and other diseases. By probing specific DNA structures, Ishita Mukerji hopes to gain an understanding of how such medical conditions can be prevented or possibly cured. Mukerji, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, studies how different proteins recognize and bind to DNA. Specifically, she examines four-stranded DNA structures, known as "Holliday junctions," which are involved in DNA repair and recombination. These are different from the common, two-stranded DNA. On April 1, Mukerji will receive a four-year grant worth $798,368 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund her research project, "Structure and…
During a "Who Done It? A DNA Investigation," elementary school aged children sported white lab coats and became "detectives" hoping to solve a crime. The students learned about DNA structure by isolating DNA from wheat germ and comparing DNA samples from a 'crime scene' with the DNA from five suspects. They learn how DNA forensics actually works – just like on the television show "CSI." (more…)
Jodi McKenna, head women’s ice hockey coach, was selected to be an assistant coach for the 2009 U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team. The team will defend its world title at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship from April 4-12, in Hameenlinna, Finland. McKenna's preliminary roster includes four goaltenders, 10 defensemen and 18 forwards, and will be trimmed by 11 players prior to Team USA's March 30 departure for Finland. Highlighting the roster are 24 players who have competed in previous IIHF World Women's Championships, including 23 who have been on gold medal-winning squads, either in 2005 or…
Twenty-four Wesleyan students will hit a high note in their singing careers April 19, when they perform with one of the preeminent choral groups in Connecticut. The Wesleyan Concert Choir is teaming up with Greater Middletown Chorale, the region's 32 year-old community chorus, and a 22-piece string orchestra of professional instrumentalists drawn from the New Haven Symphony and Yale Symphony Orchestras for a concert to be held at Crowell Concert Hall. "On measure eight, energize it, not with volume but with energy," says director Joseph D'Eugenio, during a March 10 group practice. "And be very anticipatory of the diminuendo (more…)
The Green Street Arts Center is launching the Green Street Community Mural Project, an 18 month-long art program that will culminate in a large public mural, to be installed in the spring of 2009 on the corner of Main and Green Streets in the North End of Middletown. Led by mural artist Marela Zacarias, the project’s participants are a diverse group of Middletown children, their families, professional artists, Wesleyan students, and other community members. A core group of students in Green Street’s Afterschool Program will work with the artists on the project regularly. The primary goal of the Green Street…
The web at Wesleyan is undergoing major design and functionality changes, and the Website Design Team is seeking input from the Wesleyan community. "This team has been charged with preparing a new website design strategy for the university," says Melissa Datre, director of the Information Technology Service's New Media Lab. "Through their request for feedback, peer school interviews, and faculty and student input, they will, over the next several weeks, propose to a new design concept for Wesleyan’s website presence." In early March, the team launched a web redesign blog to give every member of the campus community the opportunity…
Wesleyan sports fans can view play-by-play action of their favorite events through Wesscores, a new service hosted on Twitter. Twitter is a popular social networking and “microblogging” service used to communicate timely information as well as exchange quick, frequent messages with others. The short Twitter messages, referred to as the "tweets," can be viewed on a web browser or cell phone as text messages. The Athletics Department at Wesleyan has created a Twitter account called wescores to send updated sports information and is inviting all the Cardinals fans to follow this account on twitter by visiting the URL http://twitter.com/wescores and…
Four Wesleyan athletes traveled to Philadelphia in early March to spend the first weekend of their spring break speaking to underprivileged girls about the importance of staying in school and pursuing higher education. The event was organized through the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation (ESYHF), a non-profit organization founded by Ed Snider, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, to use the sport of hockey to educate young people on how to succeed in the game of life. ESYHF provides after-school hockey, life skills, and educational programming at no cost to the most disadvantaged communities in the Greater Philadelphia Region. (more…)
(more…)