On Campus
Vassar College

Sam Rosen-Amy ’08

"People tend to think that scientists are antisocial or have lab tans from sitting in front of the white lights from microscopes all day," says associate professor of biology Nancy Pokrywka with a laugh. "It’s wonderful, however, to build a lab community and to be able to share research and ideas in a group. College is a very social experience, and we want to simulate this in the lab." But how do you create this community when students tend to work on independent research projects, and faculty mentors work with just one or two students a semester?

This question has been on the minds of Pokrywka and biology professor Kate Susman for several years. "We wanted our students to experience the feel of a large lab, much like they would in a cellular biology lab in graduate school," says Susman, explaining how larger universities tend to have teams of researchers all tackling one question. "Also, with our little nucleus of one or two students, we couldn’t have a rich, intellectual environment of sharing at lab meetings and presentations," she says. "Our labs get together with other labs during URSI in the summer and share and swap stories, which is great. We were looking for ways to get that community feeling into our labs year-round."

A single Drosophila egg chamber, with actin filaments labeled with a red dye and DNA labeled with a green dye.

Sharing this common goal, Pokrywka and Susman also realized that they were both interested in answering many of the same scientific questions. Susman’s work deals with the study of microscopic worms, whereas Pokrywka’s focuses on fruit flies. Both organisms, however, are studied for their DNA and for how the cells become organized and functional. But if the flies and the worms shared the same lab, would everyone get along? "We tried to think about every aspect of how to do this," says Pokrywka, adding that there were several limitations, including a lack of space for a joint lab. Also, the current research grants didn’t cover collaborative projects (though this is now beginning to change). Student interest was also a gamble.

"Eventually, we started saying we were merged, but the separate labs were on opposite ends of the building," says Susman. "We were basically just bumping into each other in the hall." Determined to form one collective lab, the two finally hatched a plan. "I figured that if we knocked down the wall between our offices, we’d have a lot of space," explains Pokrywka. "We pointed out how this is an interesting model and something other departments might want to do, so we were willing to be the guinea pigs. It’s a very small investment in a new way of thinking about collaboration on campus."

Last summer, the wall came down, signaling the beginning of a joint research community. The two labs turned into one large lab where the fly and worm work is now done. They also share a computer and imaging lab for analyzing data and a molecular biology lab where students purify DNA and run protein gels. Now students can work on worm and fly DNA manipulations side by side. "The students adjusted immediately to the idea of a lab community and helped us move," says Pokrywka. "I brought in a table where they sit and have lunch as a group, which we never had before. They don’t have to be here, but now they stay and hang out."

This sense of community was solidified when classes started up in the fall. "They started taking care of each other, helping one another with projects, and sharing techniques and responsibilities," says Pokrywka. Often, students doing independent research projects were required to work in the lab for three days in a row. Because of other classes and commitments, this translated into late nights and weekends spent alone in the lab with experiments. Now a group of students can divide the workload, take on more complex experiments, and complete them in a shorter time frame, which also mimics the work done at the grad school level. "Our research has gotten more interesting, and we’re doing projects we might not have considered before," she says. "It’s also been so exciting to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and it’s made us love what we do even more. We want to find questions that are interesting to us, where you need to look at both worms and flies to find the answer."

"We’re starting to think as a team, and the transition has gone smoothly," says Susman. "We’re not collaborating from two independent places - we’re joined completely. The students don’t feel like fly people or worm people anymore. We’re now all Flyrm people."

Drosophila oocytes, labeled with a stain for actin filaments in red and an ER protein marked with GFP in green.

By   Fri, Feb 29, 2008

Ben Rutkowski ’09

"There are so many different languages in the Retreat. I love to come here and talk to everyone," says staff worker Flutura Ismali, who came to the U.S. from Albania. A true melting pot, the Retreat has staff members from all over the world. Meet (from left to right) Flutura, Sima, and Dorata.

Flutura Ismali

Country: Albania
At Vassar: Seven years

"In the beginning, it was very hard because coming here changed my life - my culture and my traditions - everything. English was so hard! My daughter helped us because they studied English in school. I had gone to college and was a teacher. I worked with students in my country, and I do here, too, which is nice, and students will tell me about their schoolwork. My son is a senior in high school and my daughter is at Marist. I push them now, but I came here so they could have a good life. They were born in Albania; my family is still there. I go back every two or three years. My husband went to college in my country and had one of the best jobs as a policeman. Now he works as a janitor in Alumnae House. He does a good job here. Sometimes I want him to do the same at home!"

Sima Ghodrati

Country: Iran
At Vassar: Nearly five years

"Before I came here, I finished my school in Iran and worked as a nurse. I have two kids who are 14 and 12. My husband works as an engineer and commutes every day to New York City. He went to school in this country and then came back to Iran. We got married, but then he wanted to go back to America. He wanted to make a better life for the kids, and we all came over. It was hard to leave the religion and the culture, and I had never been here before. I had a good life over there, and a good job. I’ve been back a few times to see my family. We have some movies from back home of family that we like to watch. I miss walking down the street in Iran and talking to everyone. It’s a little harder to do that on the streets here, but at Vassar, you can know everybody and talk about everything. They even had a lecture on Iran that I went to. I understand the students because I was one, too, and know what it’s like to be far away from home."

Dorata Wonszyn

Country: Poland
At Vassar: 14 years

"I have three kids, who are in or went to college. They were the first to go in my family. We came over from Poland because my husband made the immigration lottery, and it was finally our turn to come over, after we waited for a while. In Poland, I also worked in a kitchen cooking. I like to cook in my free time and cook lots of Polish food at home and still do the traditions. I may go back to Poland this year because I’d like to see my family and my house. I miss my country - it’s beautiful. I miss the traditions, especially the holidays. The kitchen is nice at Vassar because everyone works together and we’re friends. It’s nice to work with someone else from Poland, too, and to tell Polish stories. We have fun together and with the students."

By   Fri, Feb 29, 2008

Beth Trickett

It’s not every day that the average visitor to New York City has the opportunity to descend 80 feet below street level and step inside the vault of the world’s largest gold repository. In January, 20 students, dressed in business suits, caught a glimpse of the gold before heading upstairs to meet with Vassar alums and representatives from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This was one of many stops during the Wall Street Immersion Program. Organized by the Career Development Office, the trip consisted of a three-day stay in the city, where they talked of hedge funds, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, trading, and wealth management, in hopes of securing summer internships with New York’s top financial firms.

Working on a tight schedule, the group visited Citigroup and Lehman Brothers the first day, where they spoke to analysts and toured the trading room floors. They also learned about hedge funds from a Vassar alum and founder of GoldenTree Asset Management. "It’s incredible that someone who’s running a multibillion-dollar hedge fund would take the time to meet with us," says Robert Babbage ’10. "Programs like this really put the school on the map in the financial world." After meeting with the firms, the students had dinner with a panel of alums, where they discussed the tricks and tips of the industry.

Among the stops on the second day were Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve, where students asked questions and networked with alums. "Just seeing someone smiling at their job - it’s a subtle thing, but it shows they really appreciate what they have here," observes Katy Mixter ’09, who’s interested in the way investments, politics, and environmental issues merge. "Before the trip, I had no idea about this world, and now I feel like I could actually do it. Now I have so many business cards and contacts."

During their stay, the students also got a taste of working and commuting in the city during rush hour, as they squeezed into the subway from their midtown hotel to travel down to Wall St., and heard first-hand about the ups and downs of a career in finance as alums honestly answered students’ questions about the time and pressure of the industry. "It seems like everyone works long hours," notes Arjun Agarwala ’10. "After dinner, they all went back to work. But people seem to strike a balance and carve out their own niche."

For Agarwala, who also participated in the program last year (when it was held for the first time), meeting alums was one of the high points. "You can almost see yourself in their shoes, and it’s a nice feeling to be able to recognize that there’s a concrete future after life at Vassar," he says. The students also got the insider tour of the New York Stock Exchange, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan Bank, where they participated in a simulated trading exercise. Later, they met alums (including the alumna who funded the trip) for a reception, where they practiced making quick introductions and networking. "This is a great experience," says Agarwala. "Unlike a job interview, it’s informal, but you’re learning so much."

By   Fri, Feb 29, 2008

The campus community gathered on February 20 for the eighth annual All College Day. Organized by the Campus Life Resource Group and the Campus Life Office, this year’s theme was "Be the Change," which the community discussed through the mural project, soup and substance lunch, and during open meetings and a community gathering, which featured exhibits and performances by campus groups.

By   Fri, Feb 29, 2008

Opening in the FLLAC March 14, Out of Shape: Stylistic Distortions of the Human Form in Art from the Logan Collection explores abstractions of the human form as imagined by contemporary artists.

Fang Lijun No. 19, 1996
Woodcut on paper scrolls
Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Fractional and Promised gift to the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art © Fang Lijun

Fri, Feb 29, 2008

Nicholas Adams, professor of art, has contributed an essay to the January 2008 issue of Arkitektur, the Swedish Review of Architecture, concerning the proposed renovation of Gunnar Asplund’s City Library in Stockholm. Adams was one of a dozen authorities, and the only American, invited to critique the plans.

Visiting assistant professor of geology David Gillikin was recently awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation faculty career enhancement grant for "inter-institutional initiatives" for a projected titled "Freshwater Bivalves as Archives of Past Environmental and Climatic Conditions." As one of three to receive the grant, he will act as principal investigator.

Paul Kane, professor of English, delivered a paper on Emerson’s poetry at the MLA conference in Chicago in December. He also published a new volume of poems, A Slant of Light (Whitmore Press), in January. His work has also recently appeared in the Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2008 (Alhambra Publishing) and in Best Australian Poems 2007 (Black Inc).

Denise A. Walen, associate professor of drama, recently published "Unpinning Desdemona" in Shakespeare Quarterly (Winter 2007).

Associate professor of geography Yu Zhou published The Inside Story of China’s High-Tech Industry: Making Silicon Valley in Beijing (Rowman & Littlefield). Zhou also served on the Fulbright Screening Committee at the Institute of International Education in New York City.

Professor of film Sarah Kozloff has been asked to join the editorial board of Cinema Journal, the periodical published by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.