Fossilized teeth, the psychology of spiders, homegrown bioluminescence, screening for genetic diseases: an array of fields of study and hands-on lab experiments have enticed South County students to Simon's Rock College this week. Flying Cloud Institute of New Marlborough is running its second, expanded science program for girls at Simon's Rock, taking place the weeks of Aug. 6 - 10 and Aug. 13 - 17. Sponsored by a $4,680 grant from the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, the 2001 “Young Women in Science†program offers both introductory and advanced science classes.
The introductory week has drawn students from Lenox Dale, Sandisfield, Copake, N.Y., Great Barrington, and West Stockbridge. Seventh- and eighth-grade students learned to keep a lab notebook and improve their method of inquiry. They learned to phrase intelligent questions and to feel confident doing experiments and interpreting results and collaborating on projects, according to Jane Burke, one of the instructors. Of last year’s 14 students, 13 have returned for the advanced week — from as far away as Dalton and New Lebanon and Ghent, N.Y. — to focus on DNA research and genetic engineering.
Jane Burke is a professional potter with a Harvard MAT in science education, and Larry Burke is a photographer, digital filmmaker and adjunct professor at Simon's Rock College. Flying Cloud began as a summer day camp in and around their house and grounds, introducing children to music, sculpture, microscope slides. During the school year, on Professional Development days when the Southern Berkshire kids have half days at school, the Burkes also give science and art workshops. Jane develops curricula and connects teachers with local scientists. Last year, she got a grant for science equipment for Southern Berkshire and brought in an astronomer. Flying Cloud brought African American dance groups to Southern Berkshire schools, and built a nature trail in the wetlands next to Undermountain School.
While Jane handled the administrative details of the summer program, Susan Cooper found scientists to teach in it, through word of mouth or university web sites. She scanned the web and spoke with people doing interesting work. "We have to hope they’re good at what they do, interested, and good presenters," she said, and the program has been very lucky. Those who are interested in the working with it tend to be vivacious speakers.
Cooper trained as an evolutionary ecologist and studied the evolution of animal behavior. She worked in Washington, D.C. for five to six years as a specialist in toxic substances for ENCAMP. She briefly went into business as a private consultant, then taught biology at Simon’s Rock and at Hotchkiss. Her husband teaches chemistry at Simon’s Rock. Teaching has been tremendous fun, she said. Right now, though, she has a toddler. She tutors in math and science. She works with learning disabled students. "It gives you an appreciation for the diversity of ways people’s brains work," she said, "and the importance of presenting information in many different formats." Many people are kinesthetic learners, hands-on learners. Labs are important, she said. They are also expensive and time consuming, and often dropped from public school budgets. She has heard many stories of teachers paying for lab supplies out of their own pockets.
Each day during the program a new scientist, often two, talk with the students. In the first 45 minutes to an hour, the scientists present their careers, histories and research. They then lead the students in supervised two-hour labs. Most professors in the program come up just for the day or half the day. Some have also had lunch with the kids.
The first week opened Monday,with Marjorie Coombs, a paleontologist at UMass-Amherst who led a bone identification lab. The kids looked at teeth to determine animals’ diets, Burke said.
Last Tuesday Rabi Musah, a SUNY-Albany professor of organic chemistry, did paper chromatography. Cooper said few women have chemistry or physics jobs, and even fewer minority women. Musah researches biologically active compounds found in plants and used for medicines. It is all the rage in the field now to synthesize medicinal compounds with computer analysis, Cooper said. "So many compounds we use in medicine come from plants," and it took evolution a long time to produce them. Plants offer a volume of information scientists have not yet gathered, she said: "We would be fools to waste it."
Susanne Lee, a physicist from SUNY-Albany, led a cold temperature physics lab Tuesday afternoon, using liquid nitrogen to reduce temperatures. Last Wednesday, Elizabeth Jacob, UMass-Amherst psychologist, introduced a study of spider behavior. Cooper also hoped to invite a biochemist, a specialist on Antarctic conditions and wildlife. On Thursday morning Suzanne O’Connell, a Trinity College professor who grew up in Monterey, discussed marine geology.
Elizabeth Bertone, an epidemiologist at UMass-Amherst, took over in the afternoon. Burke said during the introduction to the week, on Monday, the kids staged a mock epidemic. Thursday they grew bacterial cultures — plates— to study the spread of epidemics. On Friday, for a change of pace, Alison Whitlock from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explained Wetlands Biology. Finally, choreographer Sharon Wyyrick, who is working on a biography on the life of biologist Barbara McClintock, explored the expression of creativity through science.
The second week’s advanced program had more depth and focus, a narrower range of sciences. The first day Cooper gave an overview of DNA and genetic research. Michelle Caggana from the Wadsworth Center, N.Y. State Department of Health, works with newborn genetic screening; she led a college level sickle cell anemia lab: electrophoresis of hemoglobin, normal, sickle cell and heterozygote. A heterozygote gene does not code for sickle cell in the person that carries it, but two people with heterozygote genes may pass the disease on to their children.
Gel electrophoresus separates DNA, proteins or other molecules. The students will use electrophoresus four out of five days during the second week, Cooper said; it is a fundamental technique in DNA research. The scientist runs an electronic current through gel, and molecules captured in the gel separate by size, charge or both. "It's like trying to move through a room full of people," Cooper explained; "little people squeeze through more quickly." Smaller molecules move faster. So do more charged molecules. The scientist can cut up DNA with restriction enzymes and separate the pieces by size. Proteins separate by charge. The scientist adds a blue dye to the buffer solution and the gel.
The students running the lab could see the bands form lightly on the gel while the current was running. They later stained the molecules more darkly: DNA fragments take the stain better than the gel does.
On Tuesday, Lin Howitt from Omnigene Bioproducts led a biotechnology lab. Omnigene technology specializes in injecting genes into bacteria and growing it to produce vitamins, hormones and other organic substances, Cooper said. In the lab, Howitt demonstrated DNA extraction and bacterial transformation. She transplanted DNA from one bacterium to another to produce bioluminescence.
In Wednesday’s (today’s) class, Elena Kramer from Harvard University will talk about her work in plant development and oversaw RNA isolation from plant tissue. Tomorrow, Thursday, Judy Kidd, who researches human genetics at Yale University, will lead a restriction enzyme digest of DNA. Andrea Babura from the Wadsworth Center, SUNY-Albany will illustrate her work with phylogeny of foraminifera in a PCR of human DNA: the students swab cheek cells to look at their genetic fingerprints. On Friday, Heather Coyle from Connecticut State Police Forensics will continue the PCR lab, and Bonnie Steinback, SUNY at Albany philosophy professor, will debate case studies in ethics of genome manipulation.
"They're a really, really interesting and diverse group of professors," Cooper said, and their stories are part of the excitement. Cooper is especially interested in some of the older women’s stories. Some are poignant, she said, and good for the kids to hear. "Many people have no sense of what went on before. They take their opportunities for granted." It was hard for Cooper even in the ’60s and ’70s, being interested in math and science. She had to be aggressive, she said. Hearing older women’s stories is the only way she knows to give these girls a personal connection to the struggles of women scientists even a short time ago.
These stories are not necessarily sad, she said. Judy Kidd got a degree in chemistry, and her husband was a professor of genetics at Yale. She started working in his lab.
“Lab work is like art — you have to have the hands for it," Cooper said. "Equipment has to like you.†She said it was especially in the early days of genetic research, when the equipment was rougher. Kidd had golden hands. After 10 years in the lab, she went back and got a Ph.D. in anthropology. She and her husband research human genetic diseases all over the world. Cooper said the timing in a story like Kidd's is also important — the students should know that many women have pursued scientific careers later in their lives. And many scientists do not often get a chance to talk about themselves, she said. They are usually confined to their work.
Cooper said Flying Cloud would like to continue to provide science programs in South County schools or in after-school programs during the year. She hopes to help students to work in labs, which is difficult locally, as there are no universities in the Berkshires. Flying Cloud may try to set up mentors for its students at SUNY Albany or UMass.
"For all our international standing, students are extremely unaware of politics and science and math," Cooper said. "We do not rank very high among developed nations.
“People should be shocked ... we should be saying technology is our future. Every child in the country should be science literate. And they are not."
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Winter Storm Warning Issued for Berkshires
Another snowstorm is expected to move through the region overnight on Friday, bringing 5 to 8 inches of snow. This is updated from Thursday's winter weather advisory.
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., has posted a winter storm warning for all of Berkshire County and parts of eastern New York State beginning Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 1 p.m.
The region could see heavy to moderate snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour overnight, tapering off Saturday morning to flurries.
Drivers should exercise caution on Friday night and Saturday morning, as travel conditions may be hazardous.
Saturday night should be clear and calm, but warming temperatures means freezing rain Sunday night and rain through Monday with highs in the 40s. The forecast isn't much better through the week as temperatures dip back into the teens with New Year's Eve looking cloudy and frigid.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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