The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute announces the award of grants supporting interdisciplinary approaches in innovative research. The grants bring together Colgate faculty and other researchers with complementary expertise to open new areas of study and to tackle existing problems in creative new ways. This year, the awards go to two research teams: Read more
Participants examined the temporal (geology), spatial (ecology), and ethical (philosophy) cross-scale processes that are currently eroding ecosystem resiliency.
During a three-day-long workshop generously supported in part by the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute, seven natural scientists and five philosophers discussed at length how the accelerated extinction that is currently underway would likely unfold as ecosystems systematically lose resiliency and destabilize into degraded social-ecological states. Read more
Rebecca Ammerman will study a large and diverse set of ceramics recovered by excavations on the coast of southern Italy.
Two Colgate professors — Rebecca Miller Ammerman, classics, and Randy Fuller, biology — along with seven collaborative partners across the globe, received major research grants from Colgate’s Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute. Both projects, as envisioned by Harvey M. Picker ’36 when he established the institute in 2006, extend the reach and resources of Colgate faculty members so they can tackle scientific problems in creative new ways.
This sculpture by DeWitt Godfrey, associate professor of art and art history, helped spur a research project about applying mathematical methodologies to art and design.
The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute recently awarded grants supporting collaborative research teams led by Colgate faculty members who will combine their expertise from across disciplines to address questions in science and mathematics.
“I continue to be impressed by the breadth of inquiry and caliber of proposals from our Colgate faculty,” said Damhnait McHugh, director of the institute.
One award was granted to Janel Benson, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, and a collaborator from Arizona State University. Another was granted to Dewitt Godfrey, associate professor of art and art history; Tom Tucker, professor mathematics; and collaborators at other universities. READ MORE
Faculty members engaged in interdisciplinary science research through the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute will host Dr. Paul Williams on campus this April. Dr. Williams is the former medical superintendent of Bwindi Community Hospital in rural Uganda. Read more
The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute recently celebrated its 5th anniversary during Family Weekend, with a panel discussion. Invited faculty members whose collaborative work has been supported by the Institute discussed the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary research.
Learn more about the history of the institute and its founder.
Scientists from Australia, Canada and the USA gathered for an interdisciplinary symposium that focused on how the remarkable diversity of marine invertebrate larvae has evolved.
Funded by the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute and hosted by Damhnait McHugh (Colgate University), Bruno Pernet (California State University, Long Beach), and Andreas Heyland (University of Guelph, Canada), the participants worked to identify key questions in the field, discuss the application of novel approaches and techniques to addressing these questions, and generate new collaborative interactions among scientists who have different areas of expertise but common interests in the evolution of marine invertebrate larvae.
The group of 18 developmental biologists, morphologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, geneticists and a philosopher of biology met in the Ho Science Center for three days to work on these issues, and ultimately will publish a manuscript that summarizes the current state of our understanding of larval transitions, the common principles that emerge from across their different fields, and proposals for future research. READ MORE
A two-day collaborative workshop and public presentation will center around a body of work developed by DeWitt Godfrey, associate professor of art and art history and director of the Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Godfrey intuitively developed loose grid structures that can be folded to produce continuous surfaces. These structures demonstrate certain symmetry properties which will be explored with the mathematical, computational, design and engineering expertise of Tomasz Pisanki and Alen Orbanic (University of Ljubljiana, Slovenia) and Daniel Bosia (ARUP Associates, U.K.).
The investigations of these surfaces and their mathematical properties will allow the team to imagine new lines of artistic and structural research, leading to practical applications in new sculptural objects.
Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute-supported research by faculty members Dan Schult (Mathematics), Ken Segall (Physics and Astronomy), and Patrick Crotty (Physics and Astronomy), was recently the subject of an article in Physics World.
The researchers believe that it is possible superconductors could simulate the brain. Read the article online.
