sciences
When Jason St. Clair '00 left campus to present his research at the American Chemical Society (ACS) annual conference in Anaheim, Calif., during his senior year, he didn't know whether to go to Harvard or Cal Tech for a doctorate. By the end of the conference, though, he had made up his mind.
St. Clair was one of more than a dozen Colby students who presented research at the ACS conference his senior year, and even larger numbers of Colby students have participated since. Among undergraduate colleges, Colby had by far the most students involved. "It really does make an impact at the meetings," said Miselis Professor of Chemistry Brad Mundy. "People do notice--Colby, Colby, Colby."
The ACS doesn't take just anybody, though. "It's a real meeting, and our name is on the poster, too, so the standards are high," said Professor D. Whitney King, co-author on St. Clair's paper.
King said, "Our job is to give students the tools to go to the best graduate schools or to jobs in the top chemical and pharmaceutical companies. National meetings are a great, great place to get job interviews and to size up graduate programs."
Which is what St. Clair did. When he presented his paper on hydrozyl radical attacks, students and professors from Harvard attended in impressive numbers. Today St. Clair's address is "c/o Chem Labs, Harvard University," and he is well into his Ph.D. research.
Collins Observatory
Interested in the stars? Colby's Lawrence Walker Collins Observatory is a top-notch astronomical facility in a great location for night sky observations. For Murray Campbell, the William A. Rogers Professor of Physics, it's a heavenly alignment: "The observatory isn't posh, but everything about it is research grade . . . and we have an unusually enthusiastic student body that's willing to make use of the clear nights," he said. The observatory features a 14-inch telescope equipped with a high-quality CCD camera with photometric color filters and a grating spectrometer. A classroom adjacent to the dome was built recently, allowing students to take the same roles as astronomers at big mountaintop observatories. Colby students regularly present their research at national meetings of the American Physical Society, and they go on to fellowships and graduate study at the nation's top programs.Perkins Arboretum/Marston Bog
Colby's Perkins Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary on the east side of the campus is a 128-acre wildlife refuge that is used as an outdoor laboratory by biology, geology, and environmental science classes. It is also a natural retreat for humanities classes, and it is used for recreation by students and community members. The 8.5-mile Campbell Cross Country Trails, developed in 1980, wind through the arboretum and are used for both competition and recreational cross-country running and skiing. Other outdoor learning labs include the Colby-Marston Preserve in Belgrade, Maine. Geology, biology, and environmental science students work in the preserve's 34-acre kettle-hole sphagnum bog, which is a National Park Service designated Registered National Landmark.
Colby Science Facts
Between 20 and 23 percent of Colby graduates earn degrees in the sciences annually, compared to the national average of 3 to 4 percent.The science library contains more than 36,000 volumes and subscribes to approximately 340 current journals.
Colby's Geology Department is the fourth oldest in the nation and is a United States Geological Survey national repository, with a complete collection of geological maps of the GQ series and many other USGS publications.
The F.W. Olin Science Center contains two groundwater-monitoring wells.
The Geology Department's seismograph records distant earthquakes from signals received by a sensor in a sealed underground vault.
Students work directly with faculty members on independent research projects that often result in published papers or national presentations.
The Olin greenhouse is home to more than 200 species of plants originating from more than 50 countries on six continents.