Willamette Stories

Math + Chemistry = Goldwater

Jeff Weber ’10 was raised to be a biologist. His biologist parents introduced him to microscopes at a young age, and dinner conversations revolved around family concerns like state health issues (his mom) and the restoration of Montana’s rivers (his dad).

His own foray into science took place at a lab in Montana, a state strewn with Superfund sites. Weber tested heavy metal concentrations in water, fish, soil and blood samples as a summer intern. When mines close down, he says, they leave diminished towns and sites laced with toxic heavy metals. “The mines are a huge issue.”

At Willamette, Weber’s instinctual love of math emerged, and he also found himself gravitating toward chemistry, rather than biology. “As far as my parents are concerned, I’ve committed a small act of treason,” he grins. “But I like math, and it has more practical applications to chemistry than biology.”

His act of treason has paid off — in a big way. Weber just received a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, which supports math and science students who demonstrate outstanding potential. He is now a math/chemistry double major, hoping to find intersections between the two fields.

“Pure math is all theory,” Weber says. “I’m interested in applying abstract mathematics to analysis of chemical structures and to specific questions in science. It’s cool to know what will happen before it happens, and to explain processes with concepts that don’t have anything to do with our everyday lives. For example, mathematicians use imaginary numbers in a very abstract way — such numbers, after all, are called ‘imaginary’ — but it turns out that a lot of scientific applications need imaginary numbers to arrive at solutions.

“There’s kind of a stigma about pure abstract math, that it doesn’t really mean anything to anyone outside the field — kind of like philosophy — but the applications are what excite me the most, the places where it does mean something.”

Weber’s proposed research will look at the application of an algebraic method to theoretical chemistry and will allow for a degree of abstraction seldom seen in chemical calculations. In particular, it will examine electric dipole allowed electronic transitions.

Weber is also on the Willamette golf team (“Not many people know we have one!”) and the debate team. Debate appeals to him in an almost mathematical way. “I like the logic of arguments. If this, then that, and then that — kind of like math or chess. Debate is great training for politicians and lawyers and teachers, but I look at it more as a game.”

His strength in science makes Weber a formidable debate opponent when the topic is pharmaceutical drug oversight, global warming, environmental protection or alternative energy, including nuclear power. He reads The New York Times online every day to keep abreast of issues.

Weber landed a very competitive summer internship at UC–Davis, where he’ll do lab work with a professional research team. And then he’ll return to his studies at Willamette, to continue tracing the “this, then that” logic of pure math applied to chemistry.

For information on the Goldwater Scholarship and others, contact Monique Bourque in the Student Academic Grants and Awards office on the second floor of the University Center.

Alumna Earns Prestigious Research Fellowship

During her time as a biology major at Willamette, Jacquie Grace ’07 spent countless hours studying the behavior of Caspian Tern chicks in the Columbia River estuary. As a PhD candidate at Wake Forest University this spring, she still is investigating the behavioral development of young birds. But this time it’s the Nazca Booby she has in her sights and the exotic Galápagos Islands where she is conducting the research.

This spring, she also won something coveted by scientists everywhere: funding to help with her research. She received a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides money annually for up to three years to students with extraordinary promise in the sciences, mathematics or engineering. Grace will receive about $40,500 this year. She is the seventh Willamette graduate to win this fellowship in the past four years.

Grace conducted her Caspian Tern research at Willamette under the guidance of Biology Associate Professor David Craig (read more about her undergraduate research.)

In graduate school, she has been investigating a strange behavior of the Nazca Booby, a bird that lives and breeds mainly in the Galápagos on the island Española. When non-breeding adults visit chicks whose parents have left them alone, the adults often display aggressive, sexual behaviors toward the young birds. Grace is studying the abusive behavior, which often causes the chicks to become more abusive when they grow up — similar to a “cycle of violence” in humans.

“For the past month and a half, I have been protecting chicks by placing an enclosure around their nest sites, and taking blood samples to detect any differences between protected and unprotected chicks,” she says.

Because she was away from her email during her time in Española, Grace didn’t even know she had received the NSF award until Craig, her former mentor, sent her a note with his congratulations. She is excited about what the opportunity could mean for her future work.

“The NSF fellowship will allow me to continue to spend long periods in the field,” she says. “Otherwise that would be very difficult since my financial support at Wake Forest is in the form of a teaching assistantship.”

For information on this scholarship and others, contact Monique Bourque in the Student Academic Grants and Awards office on the second floor of Putnam University Center.

Adventures in Español

After the last finals are written and the boxes packed up, as most undergraduates head out for three months of academic freedom, Spanish Professor John Uggen and a group of intrepid students pack their bags to fly south.

They are retracing a journey Uggen made fresh out of college, when he volunteered to serve in Ecuador with President John F. Kennedy’s newly established Peace Corps. There he worked as an agricultural volunteer with peasant farmers, helped build a school and coached a boxing team. He also met his wife, Martha Gavilanez, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and now teaches Spanish at Willamette.

Though Uggen has long since returned to the States, his research is still centered in Ecuador. He published a book about Ecuador’s land tenure and is working on a biography about American entrepreneur Archer Harmon, who constructed and directed the country’s first railroad — and its first international corporation. Uggen’s findings about the country’s multinational corporations were presented at the University of Cambridge in London and the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where investors for the original railroad lived. And he has been invited by the Ecuadorian Academy of History to give public lectures this summer in the Ecuadorian town where he was a Peace Corps volunteer, and where the railroad began — 100 years ago.

For Uggen and his students, first it’s Portland to Quito, where students stay in the homes of locals and practice Spanish. At 9,000 feet, Ecuador’s capitol city is the second highest in the world, and Andeans call it “the middle of the world” because it bumps up against the equator.

Then it’s a small plane to Coca, a city walled in by Amazon jungle. From there, it’s a canoe, an open-sided bus on a road that disappears into rain forest, and another canoe, loaded with food and water, for the final paddle upriver. The trip concludes at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, where a native guide introduces students to their rustic cabins. Rainwater is collected and generators are turned on for night light.

Uggen has been taking classes to experience the Spanish-speaking cultures of Ecuador and Spain since 1994. In Ecuador, he lectures on the country’s history, politics and language; introduces students to Indian market towns; guides them up an active volcano; dares them to snorkel through underwater gardens; and leads hikes into the jungle.

Uggen collaborates with Willamette Biology Professors David Craig and Susan Kephart, who give students an introduction to the local flora and fauna. Ecuador, after all, is home to the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin fashioned the theory of evolution. Uggen also invites luminaries to speak; guest lecturers have included a former secretary general of OPEC (oil is a major export) and the director of the Galapagos National Park.

During the three-week trip, students sleep in the rain forest, in cities and towns, and on board boats at the Galapagos Islands. They read Plundering Paradise to learn about the strains eco-tourism is putting on the country, and discuss how the confluence of oil, money and ecological treasure creates controversy and even violence. Ecuador is a third world country under development, Uggen says.

In spite of the crowded itinerary and studious workload, the trip is popular. And Uggen says the demand for Spanish is high, with 60 percent of Willamette students signing up to learn the language. “Our country is changing,” Uggen says. “Hispanics are the largest minority group and may constitute a quarter of the population by 2050.”

Willamette is seeking to internationalize its curriculum, Uggen says. “A second language broadens career possibilities, and many of our students will be working abroad at some point. They want this experience, and the Hispanic community here gives students plenty of opportunities to practice.

“I love working with students,” Uggen says, “and I like to see them go abroad and come back changed.” Janel Addicott ’08, a Spanish major who’s taken three classes with Uggen, says, “At the beginning of each semester, Professor Uggen admits that he’s not a native speaker, and it shocks us. It’s inspiring to know that he started at the same level as we did, and that through travel abroad we can become that proficient.”

Students, alumni and even community members are invited to visit Ecuador with Uggen. Familiarity with Spanish is not required, and the next trip is not until the summer of 2009, so you have plenty of time to pack your bags and learn a phrase or two.

A Spanish-immersion program, led by Spanish Professor Martha Gavilanez, will be in Ecuador for six weeks this summer. For information about the Ecuador Language Program, visit www.willamette.edu/~mgavilan/Ecuador/index.htm.

Fulbright Sends Student to the Netherlands

For as long as he can remember, Lucas Nebert ’08 has been asking, “Why?”

The curiosity gene came from his parents, both biology academics — his dad a geneticist and toxicologist, and his mom a molecular biologist and cancer researcher. They always encouraged him to ask questions when he was young, and they made sure he knew how to find the answers.

As he graduates this spring with a double major in chemistry and biology, Nebert will continue asking, “Why?” This time, he’ll travel to the Netherlands to do it. He has been honored with a Fulbright Grant for U.S. Students, which supports post-graduate research, creative projects or teaching in more than 150 countries each year. Nebert is one of 10 Willamette students and alumni to receive a Fulbright in the past five years.

Nebert will work with faculty at Wageningen University to research microbial ecology, specifically applied to the area of sustainable agriculture and soil biodiversity. The Netherlands is one of the world leaders in this type of research, which examines the relationships of microorganisms in the soil. Nebert has a particular interest in the way different farming practices affect the soil biodiversity, which may also affect the soil’s greenhouse gas emissions, such as nitrous oxide.

“Holland is asking important questions about what makes soil healthy,” Nebert says. “They’re making comparisons between soil in pristine areas and in unhealthy areas. They’re trying to find what organisms are present in healthy soil, and how these organisms may be used in creating and informing public policy.

“We eat plants, and those plants require certain microorganisms in the soil. But we basically know nothing about these organisms because they’re so small. We are just beginning to know the net effect of what they’re doing.”

Nebert grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, but his parents were from Oregon, and they visited the state often while he was growing up. He wanted to head west for college and originally set his sights on attending a large university. But in the end he chose Willamette, and he doesn’t regret it.

“I made the right choice. I’ve been able to establish a lot of close relationships with my professors. You’re held a lot more accountable in small classes, which I’ve come to realize is a good thing.”

It was those relationships with his professors, particularly biologist David Craig and political and environmental scientist Joe Bowersox, that sparked his interest in environmental issues. He also had the opportunity last fall to meet one of his scientific heroes — Edward O. Wilson, a world leader in entomology, animal behavior, biodiversity and other sciences. Wilson visited campus to deliver a lecture in honor of the biology department’s centennial anniversary celebration. (Read more about Wilson’s visit at http://blog.willamette.edu/news/archives/2007/09/willamette_comm.php.)

“Scientists are often afraid to use the word ‘ethics’ because it makes them seem like they have a bias,” Nebert says. “[Wilson] is not afraid to use that word. He’s an environmental advocate, but he’s also a well-respected scientist. … He tried to show students there’s this field that we don’t know anything about — microbial ecology.

“Soil is so important. You get your food from the soil. There’s toxic waste in the soil that must be cleaned up. You can fight desertification if you introduce certain microbes into the soil. I feel lucky to have found this type of research.”

For information on the Fulbright grant and others, contact Monique Bourque in the Student Academic Grants and Awards office on the second floor of Putnam University Center, or visit www.willamette.edu/dept/saga/.

The Best Sort of Goodbyes

Many people concern themselves with the here and now, but Law Professor Valerie Vollmar has devoted her professional life to helping people deal with the future. For more than a decade, she has crusaded for the rights of terminally ill patients to decide when and how they will die.

Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act was the first legislation in the United States to give terminally ill patients - rather than medical professionals - the ultimate right to make their own end-of-life decisions. Vollmar’s user-friendly website about physician-assisted death has been significant in furthering national and international discussion about the issue, providing information about legislative and medical developments. The site has received heavy traffic from doctors, lawyers and patients, and Vollmar has been interviewed on TV and radio broadcasts and quoted in newspapers across the country.

Many terminally ill patients prefer to die at home, Vollmar says. They want to be surrounded by loved ones and avoid the numbing pain that often accompanies terminal illness, and they don’t want to leave their families with crushing medical bills in order to prolong an existence of questionable quality. In short, they want to choose the moment for goodbyes and to be fully conscious — rather than adrift in a morphine haze — so they can share the process with those they love.

Oregon’s law allows doctors to prescribe — but not administer — the medication that will end life. “That action is left to the patient,” Vollmar says. “If you know something about the dying process, you know that pain management is not always possible. We have more people living longer, and living with chronic pain, and our medical system is overly technological. Many patients don’t want every single measure to be taken. This legislation gives patients more choice.

“It’s been interesting to see who chooses to use the Death with Dignity Act,” the law professor says. “In most cases, the patients are older, highly educated people who are used to being in control of their lives. Many obtain prescriptions without ever using them. They just want that backup in case they decide they’re ready to die.”

Vollmar’s website data shows that the Oregon law has been implemented with proper safeguards, and well received. Surveys show that the public, here and abroad, supports death with dignity measures by 60 to 80 percent or higher.

Many states are looking at the issue now, Vollmar says, and several countries have adopted physician-assisted death laws, but Oregon was the first U.S. state to push the idea forward. The state is now a leader in end-of-life care, with hospitals like Oregon Health and Science University allowing terminally ill patients to designate only comfort care rather than extreme and costly measures. “Oregon has always been a pioneer in grassroots efforts,” she says. “We’re good at coming up with original ideas.

“For me, there’s satisfaction in seeing society evolve to the point where we are addressing end-of-life issues,” says Vollmar, who has been active on other fronts as well.

In 1984, in what was almost an act of revolution, Vollmar drafted new will and trust forms using readable language, so people can actually understand the legal documents they sign. Numerous Oregon lawyers use the forms, which she continues to update. She also took on an ambitious revision of the state’s trust laws that led to the 2005 adoption of the Oregon Uniform Trust Code by a near-unanimous vote of the legislature (“I decided no one but an academic was going to have the time or inclination to tackle it!”), and she co-authored a book that provides law students with a plain-speaking introduction to trusts and estates.

“This is not just a scholarly occupation, but also a personal one,” Vollmar says. “I care about people who are going through the final stages of their lives.”

She cares about her students too. Sitting in her fourth-floor office overlooking the maples along Winter Street, she says, “This is the perfect job for me. It’s incredibly rewarding to mentor professionals in training. I’ve never taught in an abstract or theoretical way. I feel strongly that I need to equip students with the kind of expertise they’ll really need to help their clients.”

Good to know, since there are at least 3,000 lawyers, at last count, who have been introduced to trusts and estates by Professor Vollmar. We’re in good hands.