News & Events

Brooks & Jordan Organize EcoLeague Workshop
From the GMC Journal
Week of September 22, 2008
Prof. Meriel Brooks (biology) and Prof. Mark Jordan (biology) participated in a workshop of EcoLeague faculty held at the Sierra Nevada Field Campus in July. The gathering, conceived and organized by Meriel, John Anderson of College of the Atlantic, and Tom Fleischner of Prescott College, was to discuss teaching ecology in the EcoLeague, to brainstorm possible cooperative science projects among EcoLeague colleges, and to emerge with tangible ideas for moving the EcoLeague concept forward within the faculties of the EcoLeague institutions.

The outcomes of this workshop include a joint field biology course in coastal ecology to be held in August of 2010, a grant proposal to fund faculty exchanges, and plans for another retreat in the summer of 2009.

Participants pictured are: David and John Anderson, Stephen Ressel (College of the Atlantic), Mark Jordan, James Paruk (Northland College), David McGivern (Alaska Pacific University), Tom Fleishner and Lisa Floyd-Hanna (Prescott College), Leslie Cornick (APU), and Meriel Brooks.

Sutheimer Leads Workshop on Service-Learning
From the GMC Journal
Week of September 15, 2008
Prof. Sue Sutheimer (chemistry) attended in June a week-long workshop on green chemistry at the University of Oregon in Eugene. People from all over the country who are interested in adding green chemistry to their college curricula attended the workshop.

In July she attended the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education where she was a co-leader (with Joan Essen from Otterbein U. and Dominic Casadonte of Texas Tech University) for a workshop on service-learning in chemistry. She also organized and led a symposium on service-learning in chemistry, and gave two talks: "Service-Learning and Sustainability," and "Interdisciplinary Labs at an Environmental Liberal Arts College."

Student Presents at Hudson River Conference
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 28, 2008
Tibursious (Teep) Ssendawula, a biology major with a mathematics minor, made a presentation at the 15th annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (HRUMC) held April 19 at St. Lawrence University.

Teep’s presentation (HIV/AIDS Modeling) was an overview of some of the mathematical models used to analyze the immunological and epidemiological aspects of HIV/AIDS. “Mathematical Modeling is a great opportunity for applying mathematics in other disciplines,” said Teep. “It is interesting for me to understand through math how the human body defense system mirrors that of government’s in its defensive mechanisms.”

According to Jim Wright, Teep’s faculty sponsor, “Teep did an excellent job and he has learned quite a bit about the interplay between biology and mathematics.” They both enjoyed Jeffrey Weeks’ keynote address on “The Shape of Space.”

HRUMC is a professional mathematics conference designed primarily for undergraduate students. Union College in Schenectady will be hosting next year’s conference.

GMC Hosts Second Annual Slate Valley Math Competition
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 28. 2008
Over the course of the semester, Prof. Jim Wright’s (math) calculus II class has been working on a service learning project to organize the Second Annual Slate Valley Math Competition.

This involved several competition dates throughout the winter that were cancelled due to the weather. However, for the past several weeks the calculus II students have been organizing the final competition. Jim estimates that each student spent between 15 and 20 hours working on the project.

On Wednesday, April 23, their work came to fruition when they successfully hosted the Second Annual Slate Valley Math Competition at Green Mountain College. Students from two local high schools came to participate - Poultney High School and West Rutland High School. At the end of the event it was revealed that Poultney High School won the competition.

Speaker to Discuss Mercury Contamination
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 21, 2008
On Monday, April 28, Green Mountain College hosts Neil Kamman from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation for the final talk in the spring science lecture series “From Mushrooms to Mercury.” His talk, titled “Mercury Contamination in the Northeastern Landscape,” begins at 4 p.m. in Ackley Hall, room 334. It is free and open to the public.

Kamman is the author of 13 peer-reviewed publications on mercury, the results of which have been used to help to justify passage of mercury control legislation in Vermont and elsewhere. His work has also helped to overturn lenient federal mercury control regulations on coal-fired electric generators.

Now an environmental scientist in the water quality division of the Vermont DEC, Kamman has nearly two decades of experience working on mercury control and water quality issues. He has stewarded over $1 million in research projects addressing mercury contamination in the northeastern landscape, and currently serves as chair of the Vermont Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution.

Kamman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in forest biology and a Master’s of Science degree in water resources, both from the University of Vermont.

Science Series Kicks Off Today
From the GMC Journal
Week of February 25, 2008
A tiny mushroom known as Horsehair Fungus offers unique insight into the life of a particularly rare Northeastern bird species, the Bicknell’s Thrush. The drama unfolds each and every spring in the mountains of Vermont. Bryan Pfeiffer, author, conservationist, nature photographer, and mercenary field biologist, will share his personal encounters with the lowly fungus and lofty wildlife during a lecture at Green Mountain today. His talk begins at 4 p.m. in Ackley Hall, Room 334.

Bryan Pfeiffer’s articles and essays on nature have appeared in The New York Times, Vermont Life, Field & Stream, and Northern Woodlands magazine, among others. When he's not out chasing mushrooms or birds, Bryan is chief field staff for the Vermont Butterfly Survey. An authority on dragonflies, Bryan edits and publishes a newsletter on the dragonflies of Vermont, called The Boghaunter.

Bryan lives on Bartlett Hill in Plainfield, where he wanders the landscape enjoying everything from ferns to frogs, orchids to otters. His latest obsession is fireflies. You'll also find his nature images at www.wingsphotography.com.

Natural Areas Crew Reports a Busy Year
From the GMC Journal
Week of December 10, 2007
Garlic Mustard, Japanese Knotweed, Goutweed, Glossy Buckthorn, Dame’s Rocket and Morrow’s Honeysuckle: These are just some of the non-native plant species that threaten the floodplain forest along the Poultney River. However, thanks to the Green Mountain College Natural Areas Crew, founded in the summer of 2006, progress has been made toward managing these species and restoring sustainable natural communities. Some highlights from the past year and a half include:

In the summer of 2006, the College hired its first Natural Areas Crew. Three students worked for part of the summer on Garlic Mustard control.

The College created a Natural Areas work study position for fall and spring semesters beginning in the 2006-07 academic year. In this position, senior Progressive Program student Shannon Bonney researched and wrote new management plans, and she organized the successful 2007 Garlic Mustard Pull and other volunteer events to carry out management objectives.

On the 3rd annual Earth Day Garlic Mustard Pull in 2007, 106 volunteers gave 82 hours over two days, and removed over 8,000 Garlic Mustard plants.

In the summer of 2007, GMC increased its funding for the Natural Areas Crew to support one almost full-time and several part-time crew members. Shannon Bonney and advisor Jim Graves led a crew that included Elaine Blodgett (’07), who also worked with The Nature Conservancy this summer, Justin Valliere (’07), who currently attends graduate school at the University of Hawaii, and Elizabeth Roma.

The crew collaborated with Paul Marangelo of The Nature Conservancy in the summer of 2007 to complete the first phase of Japanese Knotweed control.

In the spring of 2007, the college was awarded funds from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) to fund a portion of the Natural Areas Crew budget through 2010. The contract for $13,758 supports invasive plant control and restoration of forest along a treeless stretch of river.

Chemistry Students Tour Cow Power Facility
From the GMC Journal
Week of May 7, 2007
About 40 GMC chemistry students recently toured the Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, which produces electricity for Central Vermont Public Service. The tours were led by David Dunne, who heads the Cow Power program for CVPS and Marie Audet, one of the owners of the farm. "This is a really useful tour for our environmental chemistry course," said Prof. Susan Sutheimer, who organized the trip. "Both Marie and Dave do an excellent job in discussing the complexities from both waste and economic viewpoints." Sutheimer's main goal in the field trip to Blue Spruce is for students to learn about the chemistry of Cow Power, which captures the methane from cow manure and burns it to fuel a turbine for power generation. "The trip to the farm provides the students with a good overall picture of the problems encountered by Vermont's dairy industry," says Sutheimer. Green Mountain College is enrolled in the Cow Power program and gets more than half of its electricity from power produced on Vermont dairy farms.

Students Examine Lake George Water Quality
From the GMC Journal
Week of May 7, 2007
Prof. Meriel Brooks and 6 students from her Limnology course (Lindsay Swinger, Justin Valliere, Jen Herzer and daughter Avery, Sheri Knowles, Christine Kenny, and Shannon Bonney) spent the weekend at the Darrin Fresh Water Research Institute on Lake George. This facility is a part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; its faculty and staff carry out water quality research and education on Lake George and in the Adirondacks. The students sampled on Lake George using a pontoon boat, then came back to the labs to analyze their samples on state of the art water quality instrumentation.

In addition, faculty at the Institute gave lectures on their own research. John Wimbush discussed his work controlling zebra mussels in Lake George and Director Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer presented her research on the use of genetic probes to identify bacterial species. The probes enable her to monitor bacterial species changes in Adirondack lakes as they move from acidified back to more normal pH. The group also saw some of the Institute's innovative remote monitoring efforts using tethered and independent roving solar powered samplers that can be directed to sample parts of the lake during the night and charge their solar batteries in a safe place during the day. Other high points include the pool and card games after dinner and the loon that landed next to the dock in the morning.

Sue Sutheimer invited to present at science conferences
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 30, 2007
Prof. Susan Sutheimer (Chemistry) has been invited to present a paper at the Fall, 2007 American Chemical Society meeting in Boston this August. She will present a paper for the Symposium on National Science Foundation Catalyzed Innovations in the Undergraduate Curriculum, a part of the Division of Chemical Education program. This symposium is designed to allow award winners of NSF Adaptation and Implementation Grants to report their accomplishments and to inform others considering making curricular changes. Her paper "Enhancing the Undergraduate Laboratory Experience by Combining an Environmental Focus, Instrumental Methods and Service-Learning," will highlight the innovative General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry laboratory curriculum at GMC.

Sutheimer has also been invited to present a paper at the 2007 Conference "Enriching the Academic Experience of College Science Students" which will take place in May at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She will present a paper demonstrating how service-learning enhances courses in the SMET (science, math, engineering and technology) sciences. Her talk "Can Service-Learning Enrich Science Education? " will review work done throughout the US on service-learning in chemistry, physics and biology and highlight the work of Green Mountain College in these areas.

Crew Works to Rid Campus of Invasive Mustard Plants
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 30, 2007
Thanks to 106 volunteers (so far) who donated 84 hours, the campus is controlling the invasive Garlic Mustard plants on campus. In the third annual event of its kind, volunteers pulled plants in half of the campus during Earth Week celebrations. In this annual event students, faculty, and alumni alike come out to remove the invasive plant Garlic Mustard. Each year there is a large turnout for the event, supported this year by faculty members Teresa Coker, Steve Fesmire, Sue Sutheimer, Rebecca Purdom, Jim Harding, and Jim Graves, who brought entire classes to volunteer. Crews removed 8789 Garlic Mustard plants, weighing 124 kg. This year, invasive species management work study student Shannon Bonney designed a new strategy for data collection in which the campus was divided into sectors and data was collected for each sector by volunteers. Data will be used to determine the success of the Garlic Mustard control program. Populations of Garlic Mustard were larger along the river this year than in previous years. This invasive plant can reproduce rapidly and is free of herbivores in its new range. Beginning last summer, control efforts were improved through the work of a Natural Areas Crew of students. Again this year, the crew will follow up in late May to find any missed plants. To complete the first sweep of campus, there will be one more Garlic Mustard scheduled for Sunday 5/6 from 10-2. Conditions for pulling are improving daily; so for an enjoyable outdoor experience and to support sustainable land management on campus, contact. Prof. Jim Graves or student Shannon Bonney.

Ultraviolet wonders
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 9, 2007
Students in cellular biology (Bio 2015), used a technique called "heat shock" last week to transform an e.coli sample so that it now carries the gene for green fluorescent protein (normally found in bioluminescent jellyfish). This transformation process allows a gene from one organism to be moved to another. The transformed e.coli, now able to express GFP, will glow green under ultraviolet light, just as the jellyfish would in the ocean.

Teaching biodiesel
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 9, 2007
GMC students Nicole DeLong, Nina Lankin, and Tom Wheeler, all members of the Campus Sustainability course, worked with Professor Sue Sutheimer to promote bio-diesel in Withey lobby last Wednesday.

Pre-Med Students Visit Tufts Vet School
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 2, 2007
On March 20 and 21st, eight premed/prevet students (Dana DeLancey, Missy Barber, Sheri Knowles, Aisling Howe, Mallory Caviolla, Titi Tamine, Kanika Sharma, and Kait Petros) led by Dr. Meriel Brooks journeyed to Tuft's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Massachusetts and to Tufts School of Medicine in Boston to tour the facilities and to talk to admissions councilors about strategies for admissions to the schools. The premed/prevet students who attended are active members of the Premed Club and range from first year students to seniors. The Dean of Admissions for the medical school met with the students. This was the first of what will be twice-annual trips to medical and veterinary schools for all premed/prevet students as part of the premed program. Any students who wish to be in the premed program should contact Prof. Meriel Brooks, the premed advisor.

Biology Students Explore Natural History of Southern California
From the GMC Journal
Week of April 2, 2007
On a recent spring break trip, 12 students explored the natural history of Southern California on the Biology Field Trip (BIO 3072) with Profs. Mike Blust and Jim Graves. In this 9-day field-intensive experience, students developed observation skills, learned about flora and fauna in ecosystems ranging from Sonoran Desert to Live Oak Woodlands, observed conservation problems and solutions in a region rich in endemic species, and conducted field research. Before the trip, the class discussed Bakker's An Island Called California, and each student searched additional literature on a topic of interest and designed a study. For example, they asked, "Do lizards show a preference for cool microsites in a warm environment?" and "What factors influence distance between shrubs in desert and chaparral communities?" Solving problems with these studies in the field provided students with some of their best learning experiences. Trip highlights included a walk through the sparsely leafy and flowering desert to a palm oasis, Great Horned Owls hollering from the sandstone cliffs over Joshua Trees and Junipers, and a Darwinian experience on Santa Cruz Island where isolation has yielded a curious world of little Island Foxes, large Island Scrub Jays, and Giant Coreopsis. The students will present research findings from this trip on Friday, April 13, starting at 2:30 pm. Location will be announced soon.

Professor and student attend New England Association of Environmental Biologists conference
From the GMC Journal
Week of March 26, 2007
Prof. Susan Sutheimer (chemistry) and GMC junior Necole Whitcher attended the 31st Annual Conference of the New England Association of Environmental Biologists at the Grand Summit Hotel and Conference Center, Mount Snow, West Dover, Vermont. Session topics included Lake and River Management and Integrating Science into American Thought and Policies. Poster sessions included bioassessment, geomorphology, and nutrients in surface waters from authors throughout New England. Whitcher is an Environmental Studies major (Natural Science Track) who is especially interested in wetlands. She is currently doing research measuring the amount of salt in stream water (conductivity) before and after snowstorms to assess the impact of salting roads.

Students Create "Rain Garden" to Slow Storm Runoff
From the GMC Journal
Week of Oct. 23, 2006
35 General Ecology students have completed a restoration planting of native species aimed at helping absorb run-off between campus and the Poultney River. The new "rain garden," which is located in the corner of the soccer field behind the scoreboard, is strategically positioned for the restoration effort because the college's drainage system empties into the area.

Brazil 2006
Fresh water ecology
Biology, law & policy, ethics
In the May 2006 travel course to Brazil, 13 Green Mountain students and three professors studied fresh water ecology, policy, and distribution ethics in the country. The group spent five days in San Paulo and two weeks in Piracicaba, studying and working to establish a relationship between Green Mountain College and the universities of San Paulo and Piracicaba. The course was organized and taught by Biology Professor Meriel Brooks, Professor of Environmental Studies, Law and Policy Rebecca Purdom, and Provost William Throop.

Hawaii 2005
Environmental biogeology of Hawaii
Biology, geology
May 2005, biology professor Meriel Brooks and geology professor John Van Hoesen brought students to Hawaii for a two-week course on the biology and geology of the island. The course, called Environmental Biogeology of Hawaii, took advantage of Hawaii's unique volcanic landscape to help students learn about a diverse range of life and rock formations. Pictured at right, the students in the course prepare to board a helicopter to view the active volcano Mt. Kilauea from the air.