The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) has awarded Assistant Professor of Physics Jason Goodman a five-year grant to investigate the flows of ice-covered oceans on Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) and other moons in the outer solar system.

Biochemistry major Blair Rossetti '09 will conduct stem cell research as a 2009 Fulbright Scholar in the Netherlands. At Utrecht University, Rossetti will join the team of Sander van den Heuvel, one of the world's premier scientists in the areas of cell division and polarity research.

Rachelle DeCoste, assistant professor of mathematics, will bring her Career Mentoring Workshop for Women in math (CaMeW) to Wheaton for the second consecutive summer, thanks to a grant of $6,000 from the Mathematical Association of America/Tensor Foundation.

The impact of a warming Earth on arctic glaciers will be the subject of senior Megan O'Sadnick's research as a 2009 Fulbright Scholar.

The Wheaton community will hold its second annual Focus the Nation "teach-in" on March 23-26 with a series of events designed to raise awareness about sustainability practices on campus and in our daily lives.

Molly Rose Galdston '09 is the co-author of a study on language development in children with autism that has been presented at two international conferences. The study points up important differences between bilingual and monolingual children with autism that could help refine treatment and intervention methods.

Wheaton will present Professor of Chemistry Emerita Bojan Jennings with an honorary degree on Thursday, Oct. 30, at noon in Cole Memorial Chapel.

President Ronald A. Crutcher and the Board of Trustees are inviting the Wheaton community and local residents to the groundbreaking for the new Center for Scientific Inquiry and Innovation on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m.

The Religion Department will host scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker as the college's annual Martin Lecturer. Her address, entitled "The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology," will take place in the Holman Room of Mary Lyon Hall at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 22.

Plans are underway to build a state-of-the-art science center on the Wheaton campus, with construction slated to begin in March 2009.
The Center for Scientific Inquiry and Innovation will be the college's most ambitious building project to date, comprising the construction of a three-story research-and-teaching facility and renovations to the existing science center.

The children and teachers of the Elisabeth W. Amen Nursery School worked together to create a vegetable garden on the school grounds this spring. President Crutcher paid a visit to help with the digging.

The Wheaton College greenhouses will offer an open house and repotting clinic on Friday, May 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Horticulturalist and greenhouse caretaker Jane Young will be available to answer questions.

Senior Ashlan Musante has been awarded a 2008 Fulbright Scholarship to join the research team of Dr. Tanja Weil at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. The team's work involves the design and cellular characterization of customized polymeric architectures.

Blair Rossetti '09, a biochemistry major from Plymouth, Mass., has been named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for 2008. Awarded to outstanding college juniors and seniors in the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering, the Goldwater Scholarship is the premier national award for undergraduates in these areas.

The Wheaton College greenhouses will be open for tours and a repotting clinic on Wednesday, March 12, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Agriculture and sustainability will be the subject of a lecture by author and horticulturist Barbara Damrosch ’64 on February 21 at 5:30 p.m. in Hindle Auditorium of the Science Center.

On Feb. 3, NASA astronaut Pam Melroy will talk about her experiences in space, including the dramatic and successful mission to the International Space Station that she led this fall.

To advise biologists navigating the unfamiliar terrain of computer programming, Wheaton professors Betsey Dyer (biology) and Mark LeBlanc (computer science) have written a guidebook, Perl for Exploring DNA, that serves as an introduction to computer-aided searching of biological sequences.

Wheaton students, staff and faculty will join their peers around the country in seeking to raise awareness about global climate change during Focus the Nation, which is being billed as the biggest teach-in in history.

The Wheaton College greenhouses will hold an open house on Friday, Dec. 7 from 11 a. m. to 2 p. m. During the open house, visitors are free to wander around the greenhouses at their leisure and may also bring plants in need of repotting.