Dr. Laura Niklason, a noted scientist and professor of anesthesiology and biomedical engineering at Yale University, was interviewed by Lillian Quinones ’18 on Quinones’ radio show “Science and Ethics.” “A synthetic blood vessel that you developed was grafted into the arm of a kidney dialysis patient. The research that produced this result took 20 years and drew upon your experience...
Science and Tech
Professors, students explore intersection of philosophy and neuroscience
“What we call philosophy of mind has to do with a set of issues that have been with us since the start of the enlightenment,” Professor of Philosophy Jim Stephens said. “When René Descartes said, ‘I think therefore I am,’ it contained a whole new way of looking at the mind.” This semester, Stephens teaches a course called Philosophy of...
Student spends summer break researching Parkinson’s-related protein
Over the summer, senior Natalie Meckel was admitted to a research program, spending the summer crystallizing proteins for neutron diffraction experiments at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to take part in the 10-week Redox Biology Center Summer Research (REU) Program. “I’d planned on doing research ever since I was a freshman as part of my biochemistry major,” Meckel said. “There...
Box replaces T drive on campus
After a nine month, multi-departmental trial run, Hillsdale Information Technology Services (ITS) has officially integrated Box as a campus-wide software solution. “Box is essentially a cloud content service provider just like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive,” ITS Systems Administrator Mark Janowiak said. “It enables a lot more features as far as collaboration across the college and collaboration...
New biology professor emphasizes real-world applications
With the retirement of Hillsdale’s Professor of Biology Bob Miller this past spring, Sang-Chul Nam has been hired as new associate professor of biology, teaching Biology 101 and Developmental Biology this semester. After a process involving the weighing of many candidates, Professor of Biology David Houghton said that Nam is “one of the most qualified people ever hired” in Hillsdale’s...
Weekly ADHD group encourages peer support
Jordan Nied was at college for almost a full year before he realized he had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. “I always felt like I was not living up to my full potential,” Nied said. “It often felt like no matter how well I was doing in school, I wasn’t doing as well as I could do.” Characterized by an inability to...
Faculty, students construct Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor in Hayden Park
Five Hillsdale College students spent five weeks at the end of their summer digging trenches in Hayden Park, soldering cables, programming software, and analyzing data for a special radio astronomy project. Under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Physics Timothy Dolch, the group constructed a radio telescope antenna array, called the Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor, that will be used by the...
Music, microphones, and mathematics: Student to present research project
Music meets math in senior Justin Rogers’ research. For his senior project, Rogers is attempting to make a computer program that can listen to a tone and identify its note and what instrument made it. Although it is an area most closely related with voice-to-text and speech recognition, such software would have other uses, too. “I envision something where you...
iFeel Alive Labs combat student stress with games
Pursed-lip breathing may be the solution to surviving hell week stress. The psychology department recently installed new technology that helps students learn how to control their stress. The technology, a combination of a noninvasive sensors and computer software that reads the sensors’ data, was originally brought to the school for undergraduate research. Now, it is available for students, faculty, and...