Harvey Mudd College

Most students in the United States have been on an airplane or used the ubiquitous Google. Both were completely new experiences for inventor and author William Kamkwamba, 22, who traveled to the United States in October and spoke to the HMC community about how he brought electricity and running water to his village through the power of windmills. A famine in 2001 devastated his family and village in Malawi, which motivated Kamkwamba to find a way to help. Using a textbook from his village’s library, he taught himself English and physics and went on to make his first windmill at age 14. To hear more of Kamkwamba’s remarkable story, follow the News & Events link above to the HMC Video Archive.

Kristina Runas ’11, a Patton and Claire Lewis Research Fellow and one of 150 undergrads doing research at HMC this summer, carefully stretches the skin of Rob Carrington ’11 on a machine she built. She is examining ibuprofen transport across stretched vs. unstretched skin in the lab of Nancy Lape, assistant professor of engineering.

This fall, chemistry major Brette Chapin ’11 spent 17 hours on her hands and knees recreating in chalk a picture of Christine and Raoul, the two main characters from “The Phantom of the Opera.” The piece was created for Artsplash, a two-day, non-profit event in Carlsbad, Calif., that promotes arts within the community. This was Chapin’s sixth year at Artsplash and her first time working solo. Last year’s piece was a photo of the Beatles, inspired from their famous White album. Each singer’s head was drawn 5 feet wide by 5 feet long. In previous years, Chapin partnered with Kathryn Jane Schmiedicke ’11, her close friend and roommate at Mudd.

$During orientation, all first-year students sign HMC\’s Honor Code, which sets the fundamental principles of conduct for members of the college. A well-revered tradition established and operated by students, the code applies to all academic matters, individuals\’ safety, and private and college property.$ $Jason Santiago \’07 (foreground) celebrates with members of the HMC Class of 2009 who served as 2008-09 HMC proctors. Pictured (from left to right): Donna Phu, Nadia Abuelezam, Elaine Shaver, Andrew La Motte-Mitchell, Matthew Lawson, Brian Stock, Jonathan Litz, Adrian Sampson, Hayden Gomes (back row) and Kelley Hodges (back row).$ $Nadia Abuelezam \’09 basks in her new graduate status. In the summer of 2008, the mathematical biology major worked with The AIDS Support Organization in Uganda, Africa, in an effort to improve the efficiency of the organization\'s HIV/AIDS clinics and centers by optimizing their anti-retroviral drug distribution. Later that year, Abuelezam was named an Astronaut Scholar, a prestigious honor bestowed on only 19 college students each year by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Her next stop will be Harvard University\'s doctor of science program in epidemiology.$ $Inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen delivered HMC’s 51st commencement address, urging the Class of 2009 to find something really important to work on and stick to it. \“You make a living by what you do,\” he said. \“You make a life by what you give.\"$ HMC faculty are some of the country’s premier researchers, they love their work, love sharing it with students and believe in taking advantage of the Southern California weather, as demonstrated by this class gathering.

HMC faculty are some of the country’s premier researchers, they love their work, love sharing it with students and believe in taking advantage of the Southern California weather, as demonstrated by this class gathering.

$Rachel Nishimura \’09, a chemistry graduate from Hawaii, participated in HMC\’s Chef-for-a-Day Program. Working alongside Dining Services\’ chefs, she helped plan, prepare and cook two favorite recipes from her father—oyako donburi, a Japanese dish with egg and chicken, and hamburger curry—for HMC diners.$ $Kathleen Ewing \'11, part of the historic entering class of 42 percent women, searches for the sign to her hometown and that of her classmates. Each year, orientation sponsors create a signpost with the distance in miles from each new student\'s hometown to Harvey Mudd College. The frosh get to take their sign as a souvenir of their welcome to campus.$ Rachel Levy, assistant professor of mathematics, hangs suspended from the ceiling beams of HMC’s Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons while practicing the aerial circus act known as tissu. Also known as silk, tissu is a fabric apparatus that circus performers climb and wrap themselves in. The training was a first-year advising activity that Levy organized for HMC students.

Rachel Levy, assistant professor of mathematics, hangs suspended from the ceiling beams of HMC’s Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons while practicing the aerial circus act known as tissu. Also known as silk, tissu is a fabric apparatus that circus performers climb and wrap themselves in. The training was a first-year advising activity that Levy organized for HMC students.

$HMC\’s Frosh/Soph Games, an annual tradition for first- and second-year students, offer a mix of wacky competitions, including a tricycle race, spinning bat race, surfboard/whacky noodle \"wave\" riding contest and a tug of war in the mud.$ $Associate Professor of Music William Alves and Karen Gragg \’11 rehearse for a spring concert, as part of the HMC American Gamelan ensemble. Alves is playing the Indonesian gendér barung, a mellow metallophone, while Gragg plays the slentem, an instrument also from Indonesia.$ Harvey Mudd College is committed to “unsurpassed excellence and diversity at all levels” and is constantly striving to evaluate and expand upon the diversity resources available to the community.

Harvey Mudd College is committed to “unsurpassed excellence and diversity at all levels” and is constantly striving to evaluate and expand upon the diversity resources available to the community.

$Shayni Saftler \’08 and Jason Clark \’08, a student at Pomona College, estimate species diversity and relative abundance of intertidal marine invertebrates at Laguna Beach, as part of HMC\’s Bio 110: Experimental Ecology Laboratory.$ Since 2005, HMC has used drought-resistant, California-native plants and a drip irrigation system to make the campus more sustainable and Earth-friendly. Together, this dynamic landscaping duo beautifies the grounds, while saving the college a whopping eight million gallons of water per year.

Since 2005, HMC has used drought-resistant, California-native plants and a drip irrigation system to make the campus more sustainable and Earth-friendly. Together, this dynamic landscaping duo beautifies the grounds, while saving the college a whopping eight million gallons of water per year.

$Modified bicycles and unicycles are a big part of HMC\’s diverse student culture.$ $Young students call out numbers to Professor of Mathematics Arthur Benjamin as he tries to multiply them in his head faster than others can do on stage with hand-held calculators. The presentation, called \"Mathemagics,\" which Benjamin has performed thousands of times around the world, offers audience members of all ages the secrets for performing rapid mental calculations.$

The Harvey Mudd College Seal represents the various ideals of the college. The sun represents energy; the elliptical Mobius strip represents structure; the dividers represent measurement; the inner and outer ellipses can be interpreted as orbital paths, suggesting concern with space; and the globe denotes the humanities and civilization. The dividers are placed in the design to bridge the gap between the sun and the globe, symbolizing the measure of energy and matter as well as the measure of humans and civilization.

$Daniel Garcia \’10 helps Ariel Berman \’11 paint \“The Albatross.\” An engineering major, Berman built the rocket as part of both her level-one certification from the National Association of Rocketry and her research in HMC\’s rocket development lab.$ $Jeffrey Lym \’11 strums his guitar, as part of a photo shoot for HMC\’s course Art 100: Introduction to Digital Photography. The student photographers were asked to produce a self-portrait by directing their partner, who did the actual shooting.$ $Jowene Wong \’08 strikes a playful pose, as part of HMC\’s course Art 100: Introduction to Digital Photography, which she took during her senior year. The student photographers were asked to produce a self-portrait by directing their partner, who did the actual shooting.$ $Chemistry major Andrew Chung \’10 poses with \“Jeopardy!\” host Alex Trebek during the prestigious game show\’s 2008 College Tournament. After two nights of final rounds, Chung—the second HMC student to appear on \“Jeopardy!\”—finished as second runner-up, bringing home $25,000. In 1998, HMC alumnus Andrew \“Rif\” Hutchings \’98 was named the \“Jeopardy!\” college champion.$ $NASA astronaut and HMC alumnus Stan Love \'87 sports a Harvey Mudd College T-shirt aboard space shuttle Atlantis. The second HMC graduate to venture into space as part of NASA\'s space shuttle program, Love performed two spacewalks during mission STS-122, in February, 2008. On day 11 of the mission, the crew was awakened to the sounds of the HMC anthem, \"Hail Thee, Harvey Mudd,\” composed by alumna Amy Lewkowicz \'90, a longtime friend of Love\’s.$ $Terence Wong \'09, a chemistry-biology joint major, consults with Assistant Professor of Chemistry David Vosburg on the interpretation of a reaction that used thin-layer chromatography.$ $Hufsa Ahmad \‘10 (right) and Megan Pham \‘10 participate in the Tricycle Pig Relay, as part of the Frosh/Sophomore Games, an annual HMC tradition.$ $Engineering major Jeff Rubinstein \’08 (center) works with local youngsters, as part of HMC\’s Science Bus Program, which helps teach science to elementary and middle school students. The day\’s lesson focused on ecosystems, with this experiment demonstrating nutrient transport in plants.$ $Rachel ArceJaeger \’10 and Vedika Khemani \’10 work on a robotics project, as part of HMC’s Summer Research Program. The pair, along with Jessica Wen \’10, took their robot to Orlando, Fla., where they participated in the 2007 Tapia Robotics competition and took first place among five teams. The trio was the youngest team present and used the least expensive platform among the entrants—a testament to their creativity and programming savvy.$ $Engineering majors Graham Orr \’09 (right) and Jason Choi \’08 prepare a rocket for its first launch in the Lucerne Valley Dry Lakebed in the Mojave Desert. The rocket, used to test electronics and sensors up to two times the speed of sound, was a joint project between the Mudd Amateur Rocket Club (MARC) and HMC\’s Experimental Engineering (E80) course, which allows students to engage in hands-on laboratory work to fly instrumented model rockets as a team, then analyze and report on their data.$ $Harvey Mudd College professors\' doors are (almost) always open. Here, Mathematics Professor Andrew Bernoff and Christine Kim \'09, a chemistry major, ponder a differential equation question.$ Students in the Math and Science Education class, led by mathematics professor Darryl Yong, set out to perfect a hot air balloon project for local high school students. Their task: inflate a plastic bag with the heat produced by birthday candles.

Students in the Math and Science Education class, led by mathematics professor Darryl Yong, set out to perfect a hot air balloon project for local high school students. Their task: inflate a plastic bag with the heat produced by birthday candles.

$Students soak up the California sun in HMC\’s Braun Liquidambar Mall while tackling a chemistry assignment.$ $Jennifer Logan (right), a post-doctoral researcher in professor Shenda Baker\’s chemistry lab, and chemistry major Benjamin Schiller ’08, deposit polymers on ultra pure water in a Langmuir trough to look at self-assembly processes of molecules. Professor Baker\’s lab examines how molecules spontaneously form nanoscopic-sized structures.$ $Students from HMC\'s Shakespeare course work perform. Led by Professor Jeff Groves, students spend half the semester studying selected plays and Shakespearean topics, and the other half mounting a full production of an assigned play. Performing outdoors, students experience Shakespeare\'s playing conditions: no artificial lighting, a thrust stage open to the sky, limited props and special effects, and audience members on multiple levels. Since 1989, Groves and his students have produced a number of Shakespeare\'s most popular plays.$ $Working in the Department of Engineering\’s tissue culture lab, Elizabeth Orwin, assistant professor of engineering and biology, and physics major Emily Hogan \’07 examine a cluster of cells at the bottom of a test tube after centrifugation.$ $Cassandra Cortez \’08 (left) and Lai \'Anna\' Lei \’09 work in the state-of-the-art clean lab at bioSTAR West, located in an industrial park a few blocks from campus. The facility, where many HMC faculty and students collaborate on numerous multidisciplinary projects, offers the only clean-room laboratory at The Claremont Colleges.$ $Built in 1972, Hixon Court is a favorite place for faculty, students and staff to take a break in between classes and other activities. A gift from the Alexander Hixon family, the courtyard is home to HMC\’s Venus Fountain and koi pond. Adjacent to Hixon Court is Galileo Hall, where most public lectures are held.$