campuscurrents LEAP Program Marries Theory to Practice Thanks to LEAP, students connect coursework to life work around the globe. Every summer, Mount Holyoke students set off around the world as interns and researchers, hoping to apply their newly gained theoretical knowledge and skills to practical questions.
Pau l S c h n a i t tac h e r
Some students work closely with faculty advisors on a research project, while others find opportunities that introduce them to a new area of interest. At the LEAP (Learning from Application) Symposium hosted by the college in the fall, students share with their peers how these projects connect to their coursework at MHC and how they have helped to shape their academic, professional, and personal goals.
More than 125 students presented their discoveries at the 2011 LEAP Symposium. Following is a close look at two of the presenters’ work. You can check out all the LEAP presenters and their topics at https://symposia. mtholyoke.edu/symposia/ leap11/schedule.
Let us know how your MHC coursework connects to your life work with a post on our Facebook page (facebook.com/ aamhc).—M.H.B.
Student Helps Generate Energy From Plastic. Wait. Really? Sarah Dole ’12 set off for Singapore last summer excited but unclear about what to expect from her internship at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering located at the National University of Singapore.
rings for memory storage and characterizing their magnetic states; and then at the University of Melbourne, Australia, characterizing synthetic diamonds for their effectiveness in high-energy particle detectors.
Dole, a physics major, understood the benefits of interning and she’d done it twice before, first at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, fabricating nanomagnetic
But with graduation looming, she worried that her lack of real-world or industry experience might hinder her professional and graduate school prospects. She hoped
L E A P i n te r n
“The symposium is a celebration of our students’ summer achievements, providing them an opportunity to demonstrate the intersection of the liberal arts and work in the world to their peers, faculty, and staff mentors, and the wider community,” notes MHC President Lynn Pasquerella ’80. “Reflecting on summer internships and research projects is a critical component of learning from such experiences.”
Sarah Dole ’12 prepares for a lab.
Mou n t Ho lyo k e Al u m na e Qua r t e r ly
I
Wi n t e r 2 0 1 2
3