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Selected Stories
Looking Back to Look Forward: A Q&A with Aaron Scott
The host of the award-winning 2020 podcast series, “Timber Wars,” Scott draws on environmental history as a powerful tool for generating empathy and awe.
Will Erie’s Mayflies Survive a Warming World?
After decades of regulatory change and cleanup efforts, mayflies returned to the lake. Measuring their resilience to the climate crisis presents new challenges.
The Precariousness of Being Here
For many, the coyote is a symbol of America’s wide-open spaces. So why is it appearing in our cities, our parks, our back yards? An essay about coyotes, change, and becoming unrooted.
Becoming Rooted: The Conard Environmental Research Area
For the Grinnell College Magazine. A thriving environmental field station on land that both teaches and inspires.
Not Just Green: Wild
At Omni Ecosystems in Chicago, Michael Davenport is leading the movement to create green roofs that prioritize biodiversity.
From Savanna to Permafrost: Tracking the Origins of Disease
Grinnell College students traveled to South Africa and Alaska to conduct fieldwork at the forefront of disease ecology.
Zebrafish Liver: A Fruitful Side Quest
A paper presenting new tools for zebrafish liver research began as a side project for Hayden Bhavsar and Pascal Lafontant. Over several years, the project grew into a collaborative study in the Lafontant lab.
How We Write About Reproductive Failure
Gina Schlesselman-Tarango spent two weeks at Harvard University archives studying how the conversation around fertility and miscarriage has evolved in influential texts written by and for women.
Inquiry-Led: What the Hail?
Anika Jane Beamer gives herself and readers a crash course in all things hail.
MacInnes Explores Greener Frontiers with Electrochemistry
Molly MacInnes, assistant professor of chemistry, is developing an innovative silicon purification process for a cleaner, healthier Earth.
Data Scientists Report Glaring Racial Bias in Des Moines Traffic Policing
Grinnell data scientists are helping Iowa civil rights organizations shed light on trends in racially biased policing in the Des Moines area.
Chemistry of the Commonplace
For their final projects, students in CHM 358 Instrumental Analysis are bringing everyday products — from painkillers to vapes — into the laboratory for intense scientific scrutiny.
Pictionary for Robots
In the first in a series of stories about Mentored Advanced Projects from summer 2023, follow Katie Shermak ’25 as she models human visual imagination in order to build better artificial intelligence.
The Unlikelihood of an “Eureka Moment”
"You just can’t have results be the daily thing that’s keeping you going," Adriane Thompson ’24 learned during summer research with Ben DeRidder, professor of biology.
Inquiry-Led: The Birds
Anika Jane Beamer sets out to get to know the turkey vultures that call Grinnell College home.
3-2 Engineering Programs Give Grinnellians the Best of Both Worlds
Grinnell’s 3-2 partnerships grant students their B.A., B.S., and an engineering education unlike any other.
Taking ‘Learning By Doing’ to a New Level
Another story in the Summer MAP Series. Gracie Song ’25 jumped headfirst into laboratory research, using a tricky technique to study the structure of a mutated protein.
The Trials and Tribulations of a Teenage Rat
A summer research project brought Ioanna Giannakou ’24 into close contact with rats, studying the effects of early-life stress on their anxiety and depression levels.
From French Table to the Lab
Emma Luhmann ’18 and the unique alumni connection that kickstarted her research career.
Grinnellians Pursue a Lung Cancer Cure
During her research sabbatical, Charvann Bailey joined forces with Doug Spitz ’78 at the University of Iowa. Together, the two biologists are uncovering a molecule to treat aggressive lung cancer.
Managing Waste and Creating a Culture of Sustainability
Tristan Davis ’25, compost and recycling sustainability coordinator at Grinnell College, champions a campus philosophy of environmental stewardship.
Novel Approaches: Lisa Eshun-Wilson ’14 Wants to Transform Science Academia
Lisa Eshun-Wilson ’14, Ph.D., solves the structure of elusive proteins while re-imagining the culture of scientific research.
Doane Chilcoat ’93: The Pivot From Crops to COVID Tests
As Iowa struggled to access COVID-19 PCR tests, Chilcoat ’93 and his team at Corteva Agriscience stepped up to play a pivotal role.
Ortiz Receives Sloan Foundation Research Grant
The grant will allow Ortiz, assistant professor of chemistry, to launch a new line of research and apply her expertise in nanoparticle synthesis to the creation of “nanozymes.”
Applying Mathematics to Preserve Course Registration: A Pandemic Story
In a paper published in Mathematics Magazine, mathematics faculty Marc Chamberland and Jeff Blanchard tell a uniquely Grinnell story of resilience and of intellectual curiosity applied for the greater good.
Inquiry-Led: What's That Smell?
An investigation to answer my own steaming questions and to demystify manure, its origins, and most especially: its smell.
For Women in the Sciences, “Nothing Is More Important Than Good Mentorship”
Shannon Hinsa-Leasure, professor of biology at Grinnell College, on the evolution of science academia, motherhood, and her role as a mentor to scientists of all ages and stages.
A Morning in Organic Chemistry II Lab
Join organic chemistry students in the lab for a fly-on-the-wall experience of their investigations, collaboration, and antics.
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