Amelia Rastley ’25: Out to SEA in Fiji Contributing Writer Wed, 11/20/2024 - 13:45 Amelia Rastley ’25 spent her summer along the coast of Fiji conducting research on coral reefs with the Sea Education Association (SEA). Read more. Academics Research Student Department of Earth & Environmental Geosciences

Madison County EMS Celebrates Anniversary tokeeffe1@colg… Wed, 11/20/2024 - 08:56 At an open house marking the one-year anniversary of the switch from the Southern-Madison Ambulance Corps (SOMAC) to Madison County EMS, county officials spoke about the smooth transition and expanded training opportunities for Colgate University student volunteers. The Nov. 11 event also allowed community members to meet first responders and see the physical improvements made to the ambulance headquarters in the village of Hamilton. “Our main goal was to make sure it was a good transition,” said Jenna Illingworth, director of Madison County Emergency Medical Services. “From what I’ve been hearing from the public, it has been pretty seamless.” Hamilton Mayor RuthAnn Loveless and Town Supervisor Eve Ann Shwartz echoed that sentiment, with the mayor saying the switchover went “remarkably well” while Schwartz pointed out how the county team “seamlessly followed in the footsteps of the SOMAC volunteers who served our community so well for 37 years.” Since SOMAC ended operations on Nov. 11, 2023, the county EMS has received roughly 1,000 emergency calls, a slight uptick from previous years. “The crew stays here the whole time. So they're out the door within two minutes. If they’re not, they get a phone call from me,” Illingworth said. The Hamilton EMTs also transport about 40 patients each month who require specialized care, traveling to hospitals as far away as Binghamton and Albany.  The first responders include 32 Colgate student volunteers, who Illingworth said bring an impressive level of commitment and energy. “They’re doing an awesome job, and it’s really been a lot of fun to watch them grow and turn into the providers they are today.” Two major changes since the county has taken over are the addition of a dedicated classroom space for students and staff and a new room, with two bunk beds and a computer station, that allows student EMTs to rest or do coursework while they wait for calls.  Michelle Ovchinsky ’26 is a neuroscience major from Millburn, N.J., who has been an EMT volunteer at the station for three years. She said having a dedicated training coordinator from the county — Morgan Pedersen — has been a game-changer. “With SOMAC, we really didn’t have a specific person who would work with the student training coordinators,” explained Ovchinsky. “But Morgan has been extremely hands-on and so helpful. She’s brought in a lot of training tools we didn't have before.” Logan Zamzam ’26 said his EMT skills and those of the other volunteers have definitely been boosted by the more formalized training. “We can do more interactive training rather than just lectures because we have the resources now,” he said. The molecular biology major from Grand Rapids, Mich., said he’s been on about 20 ambulance runs this semester, several that involved people suffering physical trauma after being in vehicle accidents. Ovchinsky said she’s learned about different types of care after responding to calls from rural areas outside the village. “Some people don't have proper access to health care so they wait until the last possible moment to call. So, you’re working with patients who are in a very serious health position,” Ovchinsky said. It’s not just the medical training that proves valuable. While both students are on pre-med tracks, Ovchinsky said there are other students with unrelated majors such as political science who benefit from volunteering.  “You're working with lots of people from different backgrounds who are at very different places in their lives. You really have to learn how to be personable and how to work well with them and work well as a team,” Ovchinsky said. Illingworth said that, early next year, she will open the new classroom to the public for courses on CPR, first-aid, and ways to help people who are bleeding badly. The Stop the Bleed class is especially important in the agricultural areas around Hamilton, she said, and participants will learn how to use tourniquets and other methods to stop any kind of bleeding prior to EMTs getting there.   Another overall benefit to the transition is increased flexibility. The Hamilton station has three ambulances, and, along with the 12 full-time employees and the student volunteers, there are a multitude of part-time and per-diem workers. Illingworth said that resources can be shared between the Hamilton station and the second county ambulance station in the Town of Sullivan. “It’s like a load share,” she said. “During very busy times we can share ambulances and crews from one station to the other if they are needed and are available.” Joe Hernon, who leads Colgate’s emergency management operations, said that from the University’s perspective, the transition has gone extremely well. “The county has been an outstanding partner in this entire process,” Hernon said. “We’re genuinely excited to see their great work and to continue collaborating as they expand their programs to support our community and students.” Campus Life Community Service News and Updates Student From left, Madison County EMTs Arianna Stolowitz ’26, Michelle Ovchinsky ’26, and Logan Zamzam ’26 attend the Madison County EMS open house.

New Study Reveals Possible Origins of Dark Matter in “Dark Big Bang” Scenario Contributing Writer Tue, 11/19/2024 - 10:08 Recent research by a student-faculty team at Colgate University unlocks new clues that could radically change the world’s understanding of the origin of dark matter. Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Cosmin Ilie and Richard Casey ’24 have explored an idea put forth by two scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, Katherine Freese and Martin Winkler, suggesting that dark matter may have originated from a separate “Dark Big Bang,” occurring shortly after the birth of the universe. It is widely accepted that all the matter filling our universe (including dark matter) originated from one major event — the Big Bang. This corresponds to the end of the cosmic inflation period, when the vacuum energy that drove the very brief extreme expansion initial phase of our universe was converted into a hot plasma of radiation and particles. One of the most pressing mysteries is the origin and the nature of dark matter, which accounts for about 25% of the energy budget of the Universe today. While not yet directly detected in underground experiments, or observed in accelerators, the gravitational effects of dark matter have been firmly established on galactic and extragalactic scales. Moreover, dark matter leaves observable imprints on the electromagnetic afterglow of the Big Bang, the so-called cosmic microwave background radiation.   In 2023, Freese and Winkler proposed that dark matter, unlike ordinary matter, may have arisen from a distinct Big Bang event, which could have taken place months after the conventional Big Bang [1]. In this model, dark matter particles are produced via the decay of a quantum field that  only couples to the Dark Sector and is initially trapped in a false metastable vacuum state. In their recent study [2], Ilie and Casey explore and refine this Dark Big Bang model by determining all the possible scenarios for its realization that remain consistent with current experimental data. Most notably, their work uncovers a previously unexplored range of possible parameters that could explain dark matter’s origin. The study also determines the potential observable consequences of these new scenarios, particularly the generation of gravitational waves that could be detectable by future experiments. “Detecting gravitational waves generated by the Dark Big Bang could provide crucial evidence for this new theory of dark matter,” said Ilie “With current experiments like the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) on the horizon, we may soon have the tools to test this model in unprecedented ways.” The 2023 detection of background gravitational waves by the NANOGrav collaboration, part of IPTA, could be linked to a realization of the Dark Big Bang. As future experiments provide more precise measurements, the study’s findings could help refine our understanding of the parameters governing the Dark Big Bang and potentially confirm it as the true origin of dark matter. The implications of these discoveries could extend beyond dark matter, as they offer a new perspective on the early history of the universe and the forces that shaped its evolution. The search for answers to the mysteries of dark matter and its origins continues to drive research at the forefront of modern cosmology. [1] Katherine Freese and Martin Winkler,  Phys.Rev.D 107 (2023) 8, 083522 [2] Richard Casey and Cosmin Ilie, Phys.Rev.D (2024) 110, 103522 Academics Natural Sciences and Mathematics Research Alumni News and Updates Alumni Faculty & Staff Student Department of Physics and Astronomy The Summer 2023 research group. L to R: Jared Diks ’25, Lance Chen ’25, Shafaat Mahmud ’26, Jillian Paulin ’23, Richard Casey ’24, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Cosmin Ilie

Jalabil Residency Brings Maya Weaving Culture to Colgate tmfonda@colgate.edu Mon, 11/18/2024 - 11:53 Oct. 17–31, the Department of History and Longyear Museum of Anthropology welcomed artists from Jalabil, a women’s weaving collective in Chiapas, Mexico, for a two-week residency. During this time, the visiting artists — Teresa Gómez Sántiz, Analí Gómez Sántiz, and Consuela Sántiz Gómez — shared their textiles, language, and culture with the Colgate community. In the Tseltal language, “Jalabil” means “weaving,” an art form that the women of Jalabil practice using traditional Maya designs and techniques. At a roundtable discussion held in the Center for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Teresa explained the origins of the collective, which was founded in 2014. “When we were girls, weaving was sort of like playing,” she said, adding that it was also a way to clothe themselves. But when the women first coalesced into a collective to sell their textiles, they encountered obstacles. “If we really wanted to sell our products, we needed to be willing to travel,” she realized, since the collective could not command fair prices at local tourist sites. It wasn’t until Teresa began traveling to other parts of Mexico, such as Expo events and markets in Mexico City, that the women of Jalabil began to find a better market. Professor of History Rachel Newman first met Teresa in 2007, when Newman was an undergraduate at Yale. During a summer research project in Chiapas, she was connected with Teresa to coordinate a language exchange — but the two soon became friends, desiring to continue their interactions in Spanish, instead. “When we met, I hoped that one day I could be a professor, and perhaps if I could achieve that dream, that it would be possible to invite Teresa and other artists to whatever campus I ended up at as guests,” says Newman. In 2022, when she was hired at Colgate, Newman connected with Rebecca Mendelsohn, curator of the Longyear Museum, to begin a collaboration for Jalabil’s residency. The team had support from many co-sponsors, including the Colgate Arts Council, the ALANA Cultural Center, the W. M. Keck Center for Language Study, and the Department of Africana and Latin American Studies. Several of the artists’ works have since become part of the Longyear Museum’s permanent collection, including a special donation made during a weaving demonstration: one of their looms. The loom is large, “several yards long, composed of a long collection of parallel threads which form the weft,” explains Darwin Rodriguez, museum operations manager. Using the apparatus, the artists align and design their textiles by hand, using wooden tools to pull them taut. At the conclusion of the residency, Newman is grateful for the friendship she formed in Chiapas and its impact. “On a personal level, this is the thing I’ve been involved with professionally that means the most to me,” she says. “And bringing artists like the members of Jalabil to our campus is absolutely essential to making Colgate a globalized place.” Arts People News and Updates Faculty & Staff Longyear Museum Department of History Africana And Latin American Studies Program The Department of History and Longyear Museum of Anthropology welcome artists from weaving collective Jalabil (Photo by Mark DiOrio)

Levine Concludes Road to the White House Series omiller1@colgate.edu Tue, 11/12/2024 - 14:53 On Monday, Nov. 4 — the night before the U.S. Presidential Election — Colgate welcomed Peter Levine to close the 2024 Road to the White House Series, which featured various political voices to encourage civic engagement and civil discussion among Colgate community members during the 2024 presidential campaign. Levine is associate dean of academic affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of citizenship and public affairs at Tufts University’s Jonathan Tisch College of Civic Life. Despite the timeliness of his visit, Levine took a step back from the gravity of the current election. Instead, he chose to focus on a new framework for understanding political motivations and identities based on what he calls “idea networks.” His model of political beliefs is a more comprehensive alternative to the most common mechanism, the left-right spectrum. Rather than fitting an individual onto a political map, every individual personifies their own unique and complex political map — that is to say, an elaborate web of ideas, in which beliefs are connected and backed by explanation. Levine claimed that complexity of ideas, independent of content, is generally a positive sign; individuals with less developed idea networks may be more difficult to engage with in productive conversation. “Structures indicate how interesting or easy it is to talk to and connect with someone about issues, regardless of whether or not you agree with them,” Levine said. Levine drew five key conclusions from his proposed framework: “People are more capable of democracy than standard models suggest.” Mapping our idea networks may lead to much-needed introspection. We can evaluate and improve discussions by modeling them as networks. Large groups may be able to develop shared models.  We can use idea network models to improve understanding of public and moral opinions. As a professor, Levine is particularly interested in applying these improvements to education systems. He believes that this more comprehensive framework will open doors to improve discussion and discourse in the classroom. Students at Colgate might consider how to navigate the recent election results through Levine’s spectrum-rejecting, idea-centric approach to political identity and discourse. As polarization contributes to national disarray, Levine believes, it may be time to adopt a new attitude: one that embraces disagreement, understanding, and empathy. Levine argued that the spectrum model leads to polarization and enmity. “When we understand people as being a point in space, it leads to disappointing results.” The current political climate — in which polarization prevails — promotes disunity and prevents productive conversation. Yet the political mapping metaphor persists because it is easy, according to Levine. It allows people to say that, since their political adversaries have different views, then “they must be coming from a different place.” Although the metaphor is not completely false, it has custom validity and is reductive. As an example, Levine pointed out that Kamala Harris and J.D. Vance “actually agree about a lot of things,” yet they sit on opposite sides of the left-right spectrum. Levine considers the polarized perspective to be borderline offensive because it implies that “people are stupid and they hate each other.” Levine’s alternative suggests that political opinions are based on dialogues, communication, and relationships. Individuals have sincere reasons for their beliefs, not just rationalizations.  This lecture was co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science Kella Lecture Fund. Campus Life News and Updates Faculty & Staff Student Debate and Discourse

Residential Commons Host Trivia Championship sliddell@colgate.edu Mon, 11/11/2024 - 15:59 On Nov. 1, Colgate University held the inaugural Commons Cup Trivia Championship in the Edge Cafe, bringing together students from all four Residential Commons for a lively evening of intellectual rivalry and friendly competition. The event was part of the larger Commons Cup series, an annual commons-vs.-commons competition in which students earn points through attending events and academic challenges, aiming to secure the coveted Commons Cup by the end of the academic year. This new trivia challenge, packed with music, food, prizes, and questions curated specifically for students, provided yet another opportunity for attendees to earn points and showcase their Commons pride. Nine teams vied for prizes like pajama pants, blankets, and mugs from the Colgate Bookstore, and most importantly, year-long bragging rights as the smartest commons on campus. Notable organizers included Residential Fellow and organizer Meg D’Souza and Richard J. and Joan Head Chair in Philosophy David McCabe, who served as the event’s charismatic announcer. The trivia format featured three rounds of general questions followed by a high-stakes bonus round. In each round, participants answered four questions posed by McCabe — followed by a visual challenge requiring quick recall, wit, and teamwork. Participants encountered questions in diverse categories, including sports, Colgate history, science, literature, lingo, and pop culture. Questions spanned from the academic to the quirky: contestants had to calculate the exact middle date of a non-leap year (July 2) and rank culinary measurements like pinch, dash, and smidgen in ascending order (hint: smidgen is the smallest). No phones were allowed, only pen, paper, and teamwork. As each round ended and McCabe revealed the scores, cheers and groans filled the Edge Cafe, amping up the competitive spirit. The competition came to a thrilling conclusion with the bonus round, which allowed teams to wager up to 10 points on a single question: “Which city hosts twelve of the top twenty largest hotels in the world?” The correct answer — Las Vegas — led to significant shake-ups in the rankings as teams either soared or plummeted depending on their gambles. In the end, three teams emerged to claim their bookstore prizes and, of course, those all-important Commons Cup points. Team Six Pack of Ciccone Commons took first place, followed by Dart Colegrove Commons’ Order 66 (named for the infamous military command in Star Wars, playing in full stormtrooper and Jedi knight regalia) in second. Hancock Commons’ Terrific Trivia Team and the mixed-commons team Quizzly Bears tied for third. As the night ended, students departed with full stomachs (courtesy of snacks like chicken potstickers, mozzarella sticks, chips, and guacamole) and several prizes in tow. With the competition now an annual tradition, the countdown begins for next year’s teams to start studying and strategizing, ready to claim their spot as the champions of Colgate trivia. Residential Life Student