The Marian E. Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center 2024
KINSC
The Marian E. Koshland
MAJORS
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Biology
Chemistry
Chemistry – ACS Certified
Computer Science
Environmental Studies
Geology (at Bryn Mawr)
Interdisciplinary Physics
Mathematics
Neuroscience
Physics
Psychology
MINORS
Astronomy
Chemistry
Chemistry – ACS Certified Computer Science
Environmental Studies
Health Studies
Mathematics
Neuroscience
Physics
Psychology
Statistics
CONCENTRATIONS
Biochemistry
Biophysics
Computer Science
Geoarchaeology (at Bryn Mawr)
Geochemistry (at Bryn Mawr)
Mathematical Economics
Mathematics Education
Scientific Computing
DEGREE PARTNERSHIPS
4+1 Bioethics with UPenn
Accelerated Masters in Engineering with UPenn
3+2 Engineering with CalTech
KINSC
The Marian E. Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center (KINSC) catalyzes and facilitates programs that maintain Haverford’s position at the leading edge of academic excellence in the sciences.
To this end, the KINSC promotes scientific scholarship involving close collaboration between faculty and students and provides opportunities for these collaborations to expand beyond the borders of the Haverford campus.
The KINSC is unique among Haverford’s three academic centers in that it is both a building and a programmatic center. The 185,000 square-foot building is the epicenter of natural science research at Haverford. It was constructed to facilitate sharing of instruments, methodology, and expertise across disciplines and to contribute to a climate of cooperative problem solving and investigation.
The KINSC comprises the departments and programs of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Neuroscience, Physics, Psychology, Mathematics and Statistics, and Computer Science. To supplement the efforts of the departments, the KINSC supports interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborations. In addition to directly funding students and faculty, the Center supports academic activities initiated with outside grants and individual faculty awards.
The programming and funding functions of the Center support the faculty and students of these departments as well as others within the College who wish to pursue research in the sciences.
The KINSC funds individual research projects and also sponsors symposia, curricular initiatives, courses, and scholarly projects that go beyond the bounds of a single discipline and involve students and faculty from multiple departments.
THE RANGE OF PROGRAMS SUPPORTED BY THE KINSC IS LIMITED ONLY BY THE IMAGINATION OF THE HAVERFORD SCIENCE COMMUNITY.
Currently, the KINSC supports the following activities:
Summer research opportunities for students, on campus or at other institutions
Fall research symposium, showcasing work by students from Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and other area colleges
Travel for students to pursue research during the academic year with collaborators in labs within the U.S. or abroad
Travel for students to attend conferences, to present research, or to gain experience applicable to future careers (in collaboration with the Green Fund)
Student and faculty training in new science-related techniques
Special projects initiated by science faculty
Support for student-run groups
Events such as research talks, film screenings, and panels
Annual career panel for science majors, in collaboration with the Center for Career and Professional Advising
Annual Student Scientific Imaging Contest
Research and travel for students from groups underrepresented in the sciences, through the Access and Achievement Fund
We are committed to supporting a wide variety of creative ideas in the sciences; students should not feel limited by the
categories listed.
Professor Daly with his lab group in front of the KINSC. Left to right: Postdoctoral Scholar Zijian Huo, Theresa Haupt ’24, Katherine Conn ’24, Anagha Aneesh ’24, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Clyde Daly, and Khady Ndiaye ’26.
318 Awards *
11 Frances Velay Women’s Science Research Fellows
41 different conferences/meetings attended around the country
39 KINSC Summer Scholars (including three students who traveled internationally)
85 students funded for conference travel to attend and/or present their work
2024
142 students funded for summer research with faculty in the KINSC Awards to fund research opportunities Distribution of student majors in the sciences
*Student research opportunities are funded through the KINSC and through individual faculty grants from the NSF, NIH, etc.
39
On-campus faculty supervising student researchers
510 Majors *
10 Astronomy & Astrophysics majors
42 Physics majors
69 Computer Science majors
52 Mathematics & Statistics majors
75 Chemistry majors
52 Psychology majors
56 Biology majors
56 Environmental Studies majors (with BMC)
98 Neuroscience majors (with BMC)
*This figure captures juniors and seniors who have declared a major in the sciences. Students do not declare majors until the end of the sophomore year.
100% Science majors who graduate with research experience
$8.1 M
External funding for research by our natural science faculty
STUDENT CONFERENCE TRAVEL
Conferences students attended with funding from the KINSC:
Ocean Science Meeting
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB)
Society for Neuroscience
Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students
American Chemical Society (ACS)
American Physical Society (APS)
International Zebrafish Conference
Eastern Psychology Association
Society of Behavorial Medicine
APS March Meeting
Joint Mathematics Meeting
Molecular Education and Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational Chemistry (MERCURY)
Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics
Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics
The National Society of Black Physicists 2024 Annual Conference
Grace Hopper Conference
OUTREACH PUBLIC OBSERVING EVENTS
WHAT WILL YOU OBSERVE?
Sharing Science With the Community STAR STAR STAR
In the northwest corner of campus, the double-domed Strawbridge Observatory is, by day, a classroom, library, and lounge space. After sundown, however, the building opens its doors four times a semester to continue its Public Observing Program, which for years has offered a bridge between the College and the surrounding community. At the astronomy-centered gatherings, a team of Haverford and Bryn Mawr students provide presentations, children’s programming, craft projects, and viewing of celestial objects with the observatory’s two telescopes —making for all-ages fun that anyone can enjoy.
Public Observing activities vary from night to night, but when weather permits, students locate planets, nebulas, or star clusters using the 16-inch and 12-inch telescopes that sit atop the building. Downstairs, craft activities (like building rocket ships or designing planets) are popular with the younger visitors. And after an hour or so, Haverford students practice distilling astronomical knowledge into broadly understandable terms by presenting on their research or something astronomy-related in the news.
HAVERFARM CONNECT WITH THE FARM
The Haverfarm is a year-round farming and educational space designed to integrate sustainable food and agriculture into the academic and extracurricular lives of Haverford students, faculty, staff, and surrounding community members. With a focus on interdisciplinary and experiential learning, the Haverfarm invites students and other members of the community to engage with issues of food justice and local, progressive agriculture.
2024 FALL RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
An annual showcase for student research, the September event this year featured student talks and poster displays on topics in astrophysics, biology, chemistry, environmental studies, computer science, mathematics, physics, and psychology— together spanning cognitive science and neuroscience, and even including algorithmic fairness.
“Complex Impedance: A Diagnostic Tool for Transition Edge Sensor Performance”
Rachel McQueen ’25
“Development and Implementation of an APOE Chatbot to Support Clinical APOE Testing in the Era of Amyloid-Targeted Therapies”
Aysha Syeda ’26
SCIENTIFIC IMAGING CONTEST
The KINSC Scientific Imaging Contest is an annual contest for student-submitted images from experiments or simulations that are scientifically intriguing as well as aesthetically pleasing.
Selection of the winners is based on both the quality of the image and the explanation of the underlying science. This year, submissions were reviewed by the KINSC Steering Committee along with guest judges Erin Schoneveld, associate professor of Visual Studies, and John Muse, assistant professor and director of Visual Studies.
First Place: Indy Srijumnong ’24
The spectra of the globular cluster Messier 92 (M92), captured by the 16-inch telescope at Haverford College’s Strawbridge Observatory. Taken on the night of April 22, 2024 as a part of my senior thesis project. Messier 92 is located in the northern constellation of Hercules. Comprised of over 300,000 stars densely packed within a spherical region spanning about 100 light-years across. The image shows the spectra of the stars within Messier 92. Each spectrum contains the chemical signatures from various elements, providing insights into the cluster’s story of cosmic origins.
Second Place: Rebecca Osbaldeston ’24
This is an image of a larval zebrafish brain expressing a green fluorescent protein called CaMPARI 2.0. When the larvae are exposed to UV light, and calcium is released in the brain from neural activation, the CaMPARI 2.0 protein is able to bind to the calcium and permanently convert to a red fluorescent protein (pictured as magenta). This particular image shows the pattern of neural activation in a free-swimming fish exposed to repeated loud sounds.
Third Place: Sophia Wagner ’24
The Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verticillata , is a rare conifer species endemic to Japan, also planted in Haverford’s Arboretum. Called a “living fossil,” the species has been on earth for 230 million years. Imaged is a cross-section of a branch of the tree stained with toluidine blue O. The dark blue parenchyma cells in the center form the pith and the light blue region shows xylem cells, which transport water and dissolved minerals throughout the plant. Out of focus in indigo is the phloem. Together these tissues comprise the anatomy of a unique tree’s branch.
COOL CLASSES: “INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY”
Taught by:
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Anthony Kling
Says Kling about his class:
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques used to secure communication and protect information from unauthorized access or malicious interception. In our modern digital age, it plays a vital role in ensuring the security of transactions and data transmission. For example, when you make an online purchase and send your credit card details to a retailer, that information is first scrambled before being sent off. Then the receiver unscrambles the transmitted message using some sort of key to get the original message. If an adversary gets a hold of the scrambled message, we want to make sure it’s nearly impossible for them to unscramble it without knowing the key. This process of scrambling and unscrambling relies on the difficulty of certain mathematical problems. This course studies the mathematics behind cryptography as well as its various implementations.
Assistant Visiting Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
In the course, students work in groups on problems as a way to reinforce and discover ideas, as well as enhance their mathematical communication skills. I want students to realize there are still many questions in mathematics we don’t know the answer to. After all, this is partially what makes cryptography work.
Kling on why he wanted to teach this class: Many of the mathematics that underlie cryptography are rooted in number theory, which is my research area. Number theory is a fascinating branch of mathematics that generally studies the integers and is home to many easy-to-state and understand, yet difficult-to-solve problems. I thought it would be exciting to explore with students some of the practical applications of number theory, especially since cryptography is such a widespread application.
Kling on what makes this class unique to his department:
This course is designed at the 200-level with only a prerequisite of multivariable calculus, although it doesn’t really build off any ideas in calculus. Rather, this class serves as a bridge for students in new mathematical concepts, many of which stem from number theory. The students in my class all come from different points in mathematical studies, ranging from those who have just taken multivariable calculus to those who have completed upper-level math courses. As such, this class presents topics in an accessible, yet interesting way.
Anthony Kling
The resources and facilities of the KINSC support a wide range of the interesting, unusual, and often unique courses that enrich the Haverford College experience for every student. Check out the Haverblog for more Cool Classes.
“Encoding Music: Digital Approaches to Scores and Sound”
“Clinical PsychoPharmacology”
COOL CLASSES
“Explaining the Universe: An Astrophysics Writing Seminar”
“Ethics and Use of Mathematics With a Focus on Antiracism”
“Communicating Psychological Science”
“Statistical Thermodynamics and Kinetics”
“Advanced Topics: Observational Astronomy”
“Perspectives in Biology: Plants and People”
“Introduction to Fisheries Science”
“Cancer Narratives”
“Lab in Chemical Structure and Reactivity”
UNLOCKING THE POWER OF BACTERIA
A National Institutes of Health grant renewal supports Professor Lou Charkoudian’s exploration of the natural products produced by bacteria, the source of major antibiotic and anticancer medications.
Professor of Chemistry Lou Charkoudian holds a small glass jar fitted with a white cap. It contains a single gram of dirt obtained from Haverford’s Nature Trail, a simple, everyday medium that carries an extraordinary bounty.
By Charkoudian’s estimate, about 10 billion bacterial cells call that miniscule sample of soil home. Within it, the single-celled organisms flex their extraordinary protein assembly lines to create what scientists call natural products, an expansive variety of structurally complex molecules.
The process, called natural product biosynthesis, is at the heart of Charkoudian’s research and has been supported by numerous grants, publications, colleagues, and Haverford students throughout the years. Now, Charkoudian has received a three-year, $462,351 grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health to continue her work in this arena.
“Bacteria are constantly making molecules so they can thrive in their environment,” says Charkoudian, a member of Haverford’s Class of 2003. “Those molecules can serve as sunscreen when bacteria are exposed to ultraviolet light, or antibiotics to fight off organisms competing for limited resources, or allow them to scavenge essential nutrients.” She says others can facilitate communication among different bacterial species, whether friend or foe.
The incredibly complex molecules they create are the foundation for some of our most potent antibiotic and anticancer medications. About 50%, Charkoudian says, are natural products themselves or are derived from them, like doxycycline, which is sourced from a species of Streptomyces bacteria and used to treat everything from acne to Lyme disease. In some cases, the natural products receive a slight chemical twist in the lab, she says, to make them more effective in humans.
“Many of the antibiotics you have probably heard of actually originate from natural products manufactured with renewable resources by microorganisms that live in the dirt,” Charkoudian says.
While this natural wonder has already paid immense dividends in terms of health and medical advancements, Charkoudian and other scientists in her field believe we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. The holy grail for her field, Charkoudian says, is to be able to harness a bacterium’s assembly line process in a lab setting, leveraging the power of biological worker proteins by combining them in new ways of feeding them new molecular building blocks to create something entirely new. Doing so would unlock sustainable access to countless “unnatural” natural products with immense potential in their ability to benefit human health or society.
This grant is specifically focused on acquiring a better understanding of acyl carrier proteins, which play a central role in the biosynthesis of many natural products by carrying molecular building blocks and intermediates to the other proteins in the assembly line. “Think of them as a FedEx delivery truck,” Charkoudian says. Unlocking its molecular ground rules would allow for the strategic engineering of natural products to create a target molecule that might not be something nature produces itself.
Beyond medicine, Charkoudian points to possibilities like biofuels that could be used for heating, transportation, and energy generation. “If you think about the fact that more than half of our antibiotics and anti-cancer agents come from this source,” she says, “what other possibilities are out there that we don’t even know about yet?”
From the outset, Haverford students have played a key role in Charkoudian’s research in this arena, and their participation is fundamental to her pedagogy. More than 25 contributed to the work presented as preliminary data for a 2022 National Science Foundation grant, and over 100 have earned co-authorship on manuscripts that have emerged from her lab.
“Our scientific goal is to study natural product biosynthesis to gain sustainable access to important chemical diversity,” Charkoudian says. “An equally important goal is to leverage our research to expose undergraduate students to research concepts and techniques. Our big win is to empower diverse STEM-appreciative, ethical, and compassionate citizens ready to tackle the emerging challenges of our time.”
Professor Jonathan Wilson Receives NSF Grant to Advance Understanding of Ancient Plant Communities
The three-year grant will allow Wilson, his colleagues, and his students to build new models to learn more about periods of intense warming and atmospheric carbon dioxide in Earth’s ancient history.
Professor of Environmental Studies Jonathan Wilson’s office and lab in Sharpless Hall are replete with fossils of ancient ferns and early seed plants dating back hundreds of millions of years. Microscopic structures in their stems, now fossilized and encased in carbonate minerals, he says, may be key in understanding how plant communities responded to periods of intense warming and atmospheric carbon dioxide in Earth’s ancient history.
In partnership with his colleagues at Baylor University and Trinity College, Wilson has landed a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his investigation of ancient plant structures and the paleoclimate record. That work is particularly relevant, he says, as the world scrambles to address the growing threat of climate change.
“Understanding our vegetation and climate history helps us understand how to make better models of both the past and the future, but it also helps people learn what’s happened on
the planet in deep time,” says Wilson. “Knowing how different scenarios in the Earth’s history ended is important for understanding what scenarios we could be staring down.”
Through the project, titled “Cells to Ecosystems: Fossil Xylem Is the Missing Link in Reconstructing Water Use by Plants, Forests, and Global Vegetation in Deep Time,” Wilson, his colleagues, and his students at Haverford will collect and study plant fossils from around the world to build new models of ancient plant communities and the carbon and water cycles during two pivotal moments in Earth’s history. Those models will simulate factors like photosynthesis and growth rate that can be incorporated into paleoclimate scenarios to provide a clear picture of how ancient ecosystems functioned.
Much of the focus will be on the structures of ancient plant stems, particularly xylem, the vascular tissue responsible for transporting water and nutrients through plants. While our modern flora bears outward resemblances to its ancestors—an ancient fern would be recognizable as a fern, for instance—their vascular structures are dramatically different, Wilson says.
“There’s not a living plant today that grows or functions the same, so we’ve been spending a lot of time over the last decade putting these plants back together and building new models to answer questions about how they work or how fast they can grow,” he says.
Wilson and his colleagues’ analysis will begin 300 million years ago. That’s when rainforests along the equator formed most of eastern North America’s coal before suddenly collapsing. They’ll also explore a period 100 million years later, when a significant greenhouse gas spike, not unlike what the world is experiencing now, triggered mass extinction.
“Knowing some of the extreme scenarios Earth has faced can help people understand the urgency of our current problem,” Wilson says. “The last time we think carbon dioxide was 600 parts per million, which is not an unreasonable projection for the end of the 21st century, we had reptiles up in the Arctic Circle. That’s a very different world than the one humanity has become used to. Unless we want to live in that world, we really need to take steps to address it now.”
The NSF grant will also teach Wilson’s modeling methodology to undergraduate and graduate students through summer courses at Haverford. Wilson says he expects the first course to launch in summer 2025 and hopes that it will inform the next generation of scientists on how to conduct the interdisciplinary approach to modeling he and his colleagues have pioneered. The course will also be carefully evaluated by Justina Ogodo, an assistant professor in Baylor’s Department of Curriculum & Instruction, to identify improvements for future iterations.
“One of the really special things about this project that I am excited about is that Justina will be evaluating the pedagogy of our workshops,” Wilson says. “We brought Justina in to help us evaluate whether or not this type of interdisciplinary workshop is a good way of teaching climate, earth science, and biophysics to students. What are they coming in with, and what are they learning? We hope it makes an impact.”
APRIL FOOLS
Who says scientists can’t be silly? Every year, senior majors in biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental studies, mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, and psychology—all of which are housed in the KINSC—take a break from their studies and pull a prank for April Fools’ Day. Students in each department pick a theme, and overnight, transform their section of the sprawling KINSC with handmade decorations. This year, they took inspiration from movies including Barbie, Inside Out, Star Wars, Wild West, and Wonderland.
STUDENT AWARDS
SEUN EISAPE ’24 IS HAVERFORD’S FIRST-EVER GEM FELLOW
Eisape will pursue a Ph.D. at the University of California Berkeley to explore the potential of brain-computer interfaces and natural language processing.
Since their broad adoption, computers and artificial intelligence have been making humans’ lives easier. In his Ph.D. program at the University of California, Berkeley, Seun Eisape ’24 explores how they can also better the lives of individuals with serious neurological conditions.
Aiding Eisape on his journey is a fellowship from the National GEM Consortium. He is the first Ford to receive the honor, which seeks to bolster the participation of historically under-represented groups at the graduate level in engineering and science.
Upon completing his doctorate, Eisape hopes either to become a professor or to start his own company focused on brain-computer interfaces (BCI)—direct connections between the human brain and technology that can decode and stimulate neural activity—which scientists believe hold the power to control prosthetics, treat neurological disorders, and even enhance human capabilities.
“Say someone has aphasia and they are no longer able to speak. That’s something you can have from birth or something you develop later in life,” Eisape says. “But if you can decode their brainwaves into speech, you invariably give them the availability to speak.”
Eisape was first introduced to the world of computer science while a student at an underserved high school in Newark, New Jersey. His older brother told him it was a compelling subject because all students were of equal standing in what was, for them, a novel subject.
That wasn’t the case when he arrived at Haverford, Eisape says.“In my classes, I encountered students who had been coding for years. Catching up with their abilities was a challenge—especially as I had significantly fewer resources than other students.” Working as many as four jobs at a time to support himself during his time at Haverford, he says, “taught me to focus on developing my own urgency and cultivating my own motivation.”
That motivation led Eisape to summer opportunities at Haverford, including a job at Boston College’s Language Learning Lab between his first and sophomore years. There he developed a new method to build a dataset of more than a million nouns in 80 languages, to discover concepts permeating human language. He also worked as a software engineer for ANGI, formerly Angie’s List, and as a data scientist for the Ask Media Group, which runs ask.com. He regularly traveled between Ask’s offices in Manhattan and Swarthmore College, where he worked in multiple computational cognitive science labs.
Eisape admits that his initial interest in computer science arose from its potential to provide a comfortable living. But his studies with advisor and Associate Professor of Computer Science Alvin Grissom II were marked by a freedom to explore, and in time Eisape realized that his interests in the field were driven by more than financial compensation.
“At first, it wasn’t the best reason to get out of bed every day,” Eisape says. “But then I discovered this really interesting stuff, like using machine learning and AI to give people the ability to speak from their brain. Now I don’t understand how it’s not everyone’s interest.”
PETRA MENGISTU ’24 WINS PRESTIGIOUS CHAMBLISS ASTRONOMY ACHIEVEMENT STUDENT AWARD
Mengistu’s research is focused on structures called galactic bars, which help scientists understand the evolution and death of galaxies.
At the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), in New Orleans, Petra Mengistu’24 was one of just 19 undergraduates to receive the organization’s prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award.
An international student from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mengistu has had her eye on the heavens since fifth grade— despite some early hesitation about an assignment on black holes. “I really don’t want to do this,” the physics and astronomy double major recalls telling her teacher, who gently countered that she might actually like it. “And I absolutely did enjoy it.” That early engagement led her to the Ethiopian Space Science Society in high school, where she helped build and launch a CubeSat, a miniature fourinch satellite.
At Haverford, Mengistu has been intensely focused on galactic structures known as bars. Her research was both the crux of her award-winning AAS presentation, “The Role of Galactic Bars on Star Formation,” and the subject of her senior thesis. As their name implies, bars are rectangular in shape; they can span almost the full size of a galaxy and draw materials inwards towards the center. They’re most often found in spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way, which is known to have a bar.
“In the classic picture of galaxy evolution, galaxies go from being young, active, and star-forming to getting older and inactive,” Mengistu says. Recently, as her thesis advisor Professor and Chair of Physics and Astronomy Karen Masters has observed, astronomers have tended to find bars
more often in older, inactive galaxies, known as quenching galaxies. Bars are curious structures, Masters says, since spiral galaxies tend to be more active in star formation, but those with bars are much less active. “Is it because spiral galaxies that are less likely to form stars are forming bars, or is it because the bar is something that stops galaxies from forming stars?” Masters asks. “Petra is using some pretty complex data to investigate this question.”
“What we’re seeing is that strong and slow bars have the most pronounced impact on quenching in their host galaxies in ways that cause the galaxy to use up its gas within the barred region more quickly than it should,” Mengistu says of her research. “The galaxy dies faster, essentially, if it has a strong and slow bar at its center.”
To further Mengistu’s research, Masters connected her with research colleagues at Oxford University, Professors Rebecca Smethurst and Chris Lintott. With KINSC funding, Mengistu spent last summer at Oxford immersed in her research.
The research and the Chambliss Award, Masters says, increase Mengistu’s chances of landing at one of her dream schools among the 12 graduate programs she applied to. “Our colleagues are telling us that if a student has had a chance to experience summer research as an undergraduate, they can see that they know what it means to do research and understand the rigors of a Ph.D. program.” Mengistu, she says, is “really ready to go. Honestly, I’ve worked with Ph.D. students, and Petra interacts with research like a Ph.D. student already.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Student Experiences in the KINSC
Throughout her four years at Haverford, Elena Bien ’24 cultivated a strong interest in disability studies and education while pursuing a neuroscience major. She valued the guidance and mentorship of Associate Professor of Psychology Laura Been.
‘“Laura is the most wonderful mentor. I got the chance to work with her in the Been lab for a summer after my sophomore year, and she continued to support me through mentoring my off-campus thesis. She was very supportive of my research choices and interests and showed me what an inclusive and fun lab environment is like.”
In his final year at Haverford, Ben Bergerson ’24 grew increasingly fascinated with the potential of machine learning and neural networks. As a physics major, he applied these cuttingedge technologies to compare two types of spiral galaxies in his thesis. The experience profoundly shaped his academic path, leading him to pursue a master’s degree in engineering.
“I had a wonderful four years at Haverford College, and I credit much of this to the amazing physics department. I was so lucky to have such close relationships with so many brilliant physicists. The care that they have for the students has created a culture within the physics department that seems very unique to Haverford, and I am lucky to have been a part of it.”
Theresa Haupt ’24 found working in a computational chemistry lab under Assistant Professor of Chemistry Clyde Daly to be a transformative experience. Daly’s guidance and encouragement were instrumental in helping her explore goals beyond chemistry. His focus on community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration underscored their value in both professional and personal growth, and inspired her main piece of advice for her fellow Fords.
“Continue to embrace everything you have learned while at Haverford, especially the drive for learning and staying part of a community.”
Alexander Abramenko ’24 began pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, inspired by the support and encouragement he received at Haverford.
“My experiences at Haverford College are really what set me on this career path. I had so many wonderful professors who were willing to chat with me about what being an academic looked like and provide me opportunities to experience what teaching and research were like through teaching assistantships and research projects. I found I really loved both my work in the lab and my teaching, which made a career in academia seem like a natural choice for me.”
Maggie Zhang ’24, a psychology major with a neuroscience minor, went on to attend Ontario Veterinary College. A defining moment in her journey was being chosen as a Velay Scholar, a program that supports women in science at Haverford. This opportunity led her to become a student researcher in Professor Laura Been’s lab. The lab’s focus on hormones and behavior, particularly reproductive behaviors, piqued Zhang’s interest and led her to explore this new area further.
“Professor Laura Been was such a supportive mentor, and even though I thought of myself as a somewhat slow learner, she and other lab members were always so encouraging that I started to build confidence in doing lab work.”
As a chemistry major, Shahla Mukhtar ’24 developed a deep curiosity about the mechanisms that sustain biological functions and contribute to the production of essential medical compounds. She found that curiosity fueled under the mentorship of her thesis advisor, Professor of Chemistry Lou Charkoudian.
In Charkoudian’s lab, and with her encouragement, Mukhtar embraced independent inquiry and actively engaged with the lab’s work while developing her thesis.
“I am so grateful for Lou’s guidance and support, which allowed me to problem-solve, generate new ideas, and cultivate a growth mindset as I developed as a scientist. This environment enabled me to foster my curiosity and unique background in computational chemistry work to shape my research approaches, enhancing the understanding of our proteins of interest.”
KINSC Steering Committee
Rachel Hoang
Director, Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center, Associate Professor of Biology
Marielle Latrick
Associate Director, Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center
Theresa Gaines
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Alvin Grissom
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Paul Thorman Physics Laboratory Instructor and Observatory Coordinator
