Olivia DrakeApril 1, 20132min
Ellen Alexander '14, Professor Joop Varekamp and graduate student Lauren Camfield recently returned from Argentina where they studied the eruptive products of the Copahue volcano March 7-March 19. Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of environmental studies, has studied the volcano since 1997. It erupted in 2000 and again in December 2012. "Many Wesleyan students have done their senior theses and grad theses on Copahue. It's exciting stuff for us volcanology types," Varekamp said. Camfield sampled the products of the most recent eruption of Copahue, which included ash, pumice and volcanic bombs. She will analyze her samples…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 20, 20131min
Diana Windemuth, a graduate student in the Astronomy Department, received Honorable Mention as a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award Recipient at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society held Jan. 6-10 in Long Beach, Calif. The award is given to recognize exemplary research by graduate students who present a poster at the meeting. Diana's poster was titled "Dramatic Evolution of the Disk-Shaped Secondary in the Orion Trapezium Star θ1 Ori B1 (BM Ori): MOST Satellite Observations." Windemuth's advisor is William Herbst, the John Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy. Her work included results from two former Astronomy graduate students,…

Benjamin TraversDecember 11, 20122min
Wesleyan's Women in Science group hosted a Graduate School Admissions Panel Dec. 3 in the Allbritton Center. Students learned about the various opportunities in graduate studies from representatives in a wide range of disciplines. Panelists included: Richard Zeff, assistant dean of admission at University of Connecticut's School of Medicine; Mary Keefe, director of admission at the Yale School of Public Health;  Cheryl-Ann Hagner, director of Graduate Student Services at Wesleyan; Dannika Byrd, assistant director of student affairs in Yale's School of Medicine's Physician Associate Program; Merideth Frey, Ph.D. candidate in Yale's Department of Physics; and Sarah Moustafa BA '11, MA '12,  Ph.D. candidate in Yale's…

Olivia DrakeJuly 25, 20111min
Holly Capelo, a graduate student in the Astronomy Department, wrote a contribution to "astrobites," an e-newsletter for students and others interested in astronomy. In her article, titled "Careers, Like Space Missions, are Tricky: How a Master’s Degree Can Help," Capelo writes about her experience as a M.A. student at Wesleyan: "In general the program is quite flexible: the curriculum includes a baseline number of astronomy courses and the rest of the course work is custom fit for individual students’ backgrounds and goals; often the candidates have undergraduate degrees in related fields, such as math, physics and computer science, and acquire…