2011

Year: 2011

Latin America Focus of Annual International Lecture Series

Political shifts, human rights and the impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy will be examined in Lawrence University’s 2011 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies “Latin America: Past, Present and Future.”

Kenneth Roberts, professor of government and the Roberts S. Harrison Director of the Institute for Social Sciences at Cornell University opens the five-part series Thursday, April 7 with the address “Free Markets and Troubled Democracies: Understanding Recent Political Trends in Latin America.”  The presentation, at 7 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium, is free and open to the public.

Cornell University Professor of Government Kenneth Roberts

A scholar on the political economy of development, political representation and the politics of social inequality in Latin America, Roberts will examine the contradictory political and economic development patterns in Latin America and discuss how they relate to the trends toward political democracy and market liberalization that re-aligned the region’s politics — and its relations with the U.S. — at the close of the 20th century.

While Latin American governments have been historically more stable, more democratic and more respectful of human rights in recent times, political party systems are in disarray in much of the region, leading to support for anti-system populist leaders. Underemployment and inequality also remain sources of political unrest.  Over the past decade, support for U.S.-backed free market economies has eroded and political shifts have led to the election of leftist presidents in 10 countries, representing nearly two-thirds of the regional population.

Roberts, who earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University, has conducted grant-funded research in Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Argentina. He is the author of the book “Deepening Democracy? The Modern Left and Social Movements in Chile and Peru” and serves on the editorial boards of the journals Latin American Research Review and Latin American Politics and Society.

Joining Roberts on this year’s series are:

• Jake Frederick, assistant professor of history, Lawrence University, “”Discovered and to be Discovered – The Creation of Latin America,” April 14, Wriston auditorium, 7 p.m.

• Alexander Wilde ’62, senior scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., “Argentina and Chile: Democratic Transition and Human Rights,” April 19, Wriston auditorium, 7 p.m.

• Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, governor of Guanajuato, Mexico, “U.S.-Mexican Relations: A Mexican Perspective,” May 6, Thomas Steitz Hall of Science 102, 4:30 p.m.

• Sarah Bohn ’99, research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, “Mexican Immigrants and the U.S. Economy,” May 9, Wriston auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

In conjunction with this year’s lecture series, a Latin America-themed film series will be shown in the Warch Campus Center cinema at 7:30 p.m..  Dates and titles are as follows:

• April 12 — “Walt y El Grupo” (Walt and The Group) USA, 2008.

• April 26 — “Matar a Todos” (Kill Them All) Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, 2008.

• May 3 — “Amores Perros” (Love’s a B*tch) Mexico, 2000.

• May 10 — “Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti” Haiti, 1985.

The “Latin America: Past, Present and Future” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

The Role of Collaboration in Innovation Focus of Lawrence University Convocation

The importance of collaborations in innovation and problem solving will be the focus of a Lawrence University convocation.

Professor of Theatre Arts Tim Troy

Timothy X. Troy, professor of theatre arts and J. Thomas and Julie Esch Hurvis Professor of Theatre and Drama at Lawrence, presents “Unexpected Collaborators: The Geniuses Among Us” Tuesday, April 5 at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Troy also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Both events are free and open to the public.

Troy was selected for the 2010-11 convocation series as the second recipient of Lawrence’s Faculty Convocation Award. Chosen by President Jill Beck from nominations collected by the Committee on Public Occasions, recipients for the award are selected for the high quality of their professional work.

While innovation is often considered the result of brilliant people making major discoveries, closer examination reveals “the geniuses among us” work closely with colleagues to solve pressing problems and lead us into the future. Troy will examine some of the “rules” he’s learned for productive collaboration in his career working with playwrights, composers, actors, design teams and technicians.

His address will feature two poems: “The Geniuses Among Us,” by Marilyn Taylor and “Sometime During Eternity” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which will be delivered with Dean of the Conservatory Brian Pertl, Professor of Music Dane Richeson and Associate Professor of Music Mark Urness.

A 1985 graduate of Lawrence, Troy first returned to his alma mater in 1989, serving as a lecturer in theatre and drama for three years. He went on to work with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater Education Department and taught at Augustana College and the College of DuPage before returning to Lawrence a second time on a tenure-track appointment in 1997.

During his career, he has directed more than 100 plays, musicals and operas for both university and professional theatres and has written four plays, including 2010’s “Radio and Juliet.” He was a featured contributor to the 2006 Academy Award-winning documentary “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin” and directs Lawrence’s “Theatre of the Air” radio drama program. He was recognized with Lawrence’s Freshman Studies Teaching Award in 2004.

In addition to a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence, Troy earned a master of fine arts degree in theatre arts/directing from the University of Iowa.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Salutes Russian Composers in Lawrence Artist Series Concert

The critically acclaimed Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Stuart Chafetz, performs Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel as part of the 2010-11 Lawrence University Artist Series.

Tickets, at $30 for adults and $15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton or by calling 920-832-6749.

The orchestra’s seven-piece, all-Russian program will include Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 9” and Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” as well as works by Gliere, Glinka and Prokofiev.

MSO Conductor Stuart Chafetz

Hailed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for their performances that “crackle with energy,” the 88-member Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is recognized as one of the finest orchestras in the country, performing more than 140 concerts each season. The MSO has toured Europe, Japan and in 1999 became the first American orchestra to perform in Cuba since the late 1950s.

“This is truly an outstanding opportunity for the Lawrence and Fox Valley audiences to enjoy one of the country’s premiere professional orchestras,” said David Becker, director of orchestral studies at Lawrence. “Hearing these great Russian masterworks in a live performance will be a unique and very special experience for all concert goers.”

Chafetz, known for his ability to engage audiences, is increasingly in demand with orchestras nationwide. His guest conducting appearances include The Buffalo Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra and Toronto Symphony, among others.

His work also includes collaborations with a variety of classical and pop artists, among them George Benson, Regina Carter, Natalie Cole, Jean Phillipe Collard, Marvin Hamlisch, Thomas Hampson, Jason Scott Lee, Randy Newman, Jon Kimura Parker, Bernadette Peters, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Chee Yun.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, Chafetz was principal timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony for 20 years and served as music director of the Maui Symphony and Maui Pops Orchestra from 1999-2009 before joining the MSO.

Well-known for its ventures into new technologies, the MSO has been doing national radio broadcasts for more than 30 years. In 2005, the MSO became the first orchestra in the country to offer their live recordings for download through online music stores.

Pianists, Saxophonists Share Top Honors in State Music Competition

Performances by Lawrence University student musicians earned four of the five first-place honors awarded at the 16th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition conducted March 20 in Madison.

Piano soloists Daniel Kuzuhara, a freshman from Madison, and James Maverick, a junior from Baton Rouge, La.; the piano duo of Dario LaPoma, a senior from Eugene, Ore., and Hazim Suhadi, a senior from Jakarta, Indonesia; and the saxophone quartet of David Davis, a senior from Sussex, Phillip Dobernig, Will Obst, a junior from St. Paul, Minn., and Sumner Truax shared top honors with violinist Daniel Kim of UW-Madison in the state competition sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio. Each musician received $400 for their winning performances.

Dobernig, a sophomore from Mukwonago, and Truax, a senior from Chicago, Ill., are both Neale-Silva repeat winners, having previously earned first-place honors as soloists in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Last fall, the LaPoma and Hazim piano duo and the saxophone quartet were named co-winners of the annual Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. The saxophone quartet will join the orchestra as guest performers at its May 21 concert.

This was the sixth consecutive year and 11th time in the past 13 years that Lawrence students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva event.

The competition is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college. Lawrence musicians accounted for six of the competition’s 15 finalists. Also representing Lawrence in the competition was saxophonist Jake Crowe and pianist Max Feldkamp.

All eight Lawrence musicians will reprise their winning performances Sunday, April 17 at 12:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison. The concert will be broadcast live statewide on the Classical Music Network of WPR and can be heard locally at 89.3 FM.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry. It is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

PBS Documentary on Naturalist John Muir Filled with Lawrence University Connections

A new documentary for the PBS’ Emmy Award-winning series “American Masters” that explores the life and legacy of revered naturalist, author and scientist John Muir has Lawrence University fingerprints all over it.

Lawrence will host a special screening of “John Muir in the New World,” Sunday, March 27 at 3 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Tatge, a 1972 Lawrence graduate who wrote, produced and directed the film, will be on hand to discuss the film with audience members following the screening, which is free and open to the public.

In honor of Earth Day, the 90-minute documentary will be broadcast nationally on PBS Monday, April 18 at 8 p.m. (CDT) as part of the
 “American Masters” 25th anniversary season. The film made its world premiere Feb. 27 at the Green Bay Film Festival.

Director Catherine Tatge ’72 with John Muir (portrayed by Howard Weamer) in Yosemite National Park.

Filmed in high definition, the documentary uses re-enactments to depict the life of the revered environmentalist, who was instrumental in creating the national park system and founded the Sierra Club. The documentary was shot on the very landscapes that shaped Muir’s life: the Wisconsin woods of his childhood, the path of his incredible 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, the California fruit ranch where he lived with his wife and daughters, his beloved Yosemite Valley and the Alaskan wilderness.

Tatge conducted extensive research for the film, enlisting a team of experts, including Emmy-winning sound recordist and international acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, “to ensure the accuracy and integrity of everything we captured on film, right down to every plant specimen and bird call.”

Numerous other Lawrence individuals also were involved in the film. Garth Neustadter, a 2010 Lawrence graduate, composed the documentary’s score, which was performed by Lawrence Conservatory of Music students. Stephen Anunson, also a 2010 graduate, served as the location manager for the Wisconsin scenes of the film. Anunson also recruited Professor of Anthropology Peter Peregrine and current senior Mark Hirsch as actors for the film. Peregrine and Hirsch portrayed Muir’s stern, Bible-reading father and the 19-year-old Muir during his college years at the University of Wisconsin, respectively.

Katie Langenfeld, another 2010 graduate and junior Ali Scattergood served as production assistants, while seniors Katy Harth and Naomi Waxman assisted with costumes for the Wisconsin shoot.

Tatge recalled some of her own experiences as an undergraduate at Lawrence when she considered incorporating students in the filmmaking process.

“I remembered how many talented people I met while I was at Lawrence,” said Tatge, the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Lawrence in 2006. “I just thought this would be a great opportunity for students to be involved in the documentary and then they’d leave Lawrence with a pretty substantial credit to start off their lives. They didn’t disappoint me.”

Tatge said the project helped reconnect her to her alma mater.

“I feel that it’s a two-way street. It keeps me fresher to have young people involved,” she said. “And it’s a great opportunity for Lawrence students to learn something about the filmmaking business. I’m thinking of other things I can do with other projects, which is very exciting for me.”

The Scottish-born Muir was one of the first nature preservationists in American history, inspiring others through his writing and his advocacy to keep the wilderness wild. During his lifetime, he was instrumental in the preservation of the Yosemite Valley, the sequoia groves of California and the glacial landscapes of Alaska.

“It’s incredible what we owe to John Muir and, in our era of Katrina and oil spills, how very much we should revere his message today,” said Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer of “American Masters,” a seven-time winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction series.

Three Lawrence University Musicians Win State, Regional Competitions

Senior Daniel O’Connor of Dallas and junior James Maverick of Baton Rouge, La., earned first-place honors in the 2011 Wisconsin National Federation of Music Clubs’ Biennial Student/Collegiate Competition.

O’Connor and Maverick were named state winners in the organ and piano categories, respectively. They each were awarded $1,000 and will advance to the national competition. National winners will be announced in April.

Junior Alexis VanZalen of Holland, Mich., earned second-place honors in the WNFMC’s organ division and was awarded a prize of $750. O’Connor and VanZalen are students of university organist Kathrine Hanford, while Maverick studies in the piano studio of assistant professor of music Michael Mizrahi.

The competition, conducted via submitted audition tape, is open to musicians 19-26 years of age in 13 categories. Students are required to perform a repertoire from memory covering a challenging range of 4-5 musical styles, depending upon the category.

Founded in 1898, the National Federation of Music Clubs provides opportunities for musical study, performance and appreciation to more than 200,000 senior, student and junior members in 6,500 music-related clubs and organizations nationwide.

In a separate competition, 2010 Lawrence graduate Susanna Valleau won the first round of the American Guild of Organists’ Regional Competition for Young Organists held recently in Rexburg, Idaho. She received a first-place prize of $200.

As a first-round winner, Valleau advances to the AGO’s Region VIII competition on July 3 in Boise, Idaho. Regional winners receive invitations to perform as a “Rising Star” at the AGO’s 2012 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Valleau is currently pursuing a master’s degree in organ performance at the University of Washington.

The American Guild of Organists is the national professional association of the organ and choral music fields, serving approximately 20,000 members in 330 chapters throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Tim Troy Play Gets Professional Reading at Minneapolis Theatre

The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis will conduct a reading of Professor of Theatre Arts Tim Troy’s latest play “Radio & Juliet” Monday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. as part of its Early Stage Reading program.

Tim Troy

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will allow Troy to hear and evaluate this still developing work for a fresh audience. A short discussion follows the reading.

Inspired by Troy’s passion for radio drama and his participation in a 2009 Lawrence-sponsored trip to China to study water resource management, the play takes place in the aftermath of an environmental crisis.

Two citizen classes inhabit the Great Lakes Basin: “Arids” occupy the recently exposed lakebed while “Old Shores” protect the fresh water supply. Juliet falls for a New Shore pirate broadcaster who defies her widowed father, a police detective who protects the endangered natural resources. “Radio & Juliet” re-imagines Shakespeare’s themes in a cautionary tale with shades of George Orwell amid the workings of an elusive crime spree only Juliet can solve.

Written in early 2010, a draft of “Radio and Juliet” was first read last April on campus in Harper Hall.

Chicago Choral Conference Provides National Showcase for Lawrence University Women’s Choir

Lawrence University’s Phillip Swan didn’t actually win an Academy Award. It only felt that way.

Swan, choral director of Cantala, Lawrence’s all-women’s choir, will have the honor of showcasing the talented voices of his gifted student choir twice at the 2011 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) national conference March 9-12 in Chicago.

Conducted every two years, the ACDA national conference is the largest and most important choral event conducted in the United States. It typically attracts in excess of 5,000 choral directors from around the world.

The 36-member Cantala is the only collegiate women’s choir in the country selected to perform at this year’s conference and one of only 42 choirs from around the world invited to sing.

“Obviously this is a huge honor,” said Swan, associate professor of music, who has directed Cantala the past nine years. “It’s a little like winning a choral music Oscar in that you’re selected by a panel of your peers who have chosen to showcase Cantala as an example of one of the best choirs in the country. That’s very gratifying.”

Cantala was selected from among nearly 500 submitted tapes in a blind audition process by a jury of choral conductors.   Choirs were chosen based on a series of recordings of performances covering the past three years.

“In making their selections, the jury wants to make sure any choirs they chose are consistent and reliable over a span of time.  You can’t just have one good year,” said Swan.

Featured twice on the conference’s last day, Cantala will sing a 22-minute program on Saturday, March 12: a morning performance at the 3,500-seat Auditorium Theater on the campus of Roosevelt University and an afternoon performance at historic Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, home of the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Cantala’s seven-song program, cleverly entitled  “Jekyll, Hyde…and Seek,”  is a series of works reflecting traditional/stable, unpredictable/unsettled and playful/childlike music. The program includes a 14th-century polyphonic work; Brahms’ “Four Songs, Op. 17” (mvt. 1); two contemporary works by composers Abbie Betinis and Yosif Ketchakhmadz; a Canadian folk song; and works by Joan Szymko and Gwyneth Walker, two composers widely recognized for their significant contributions to the body of literature for women’s voices.

This is the second straight ACDA national conference in which a Lawrence choir was invited to perform.  The Lawrence Concert Choir, under the direction of Rick Bjella, was selected to sing at the 2009 conference in Oklahoma City.

“To be chosen to sing at two national conventions in a row is really significant,” said Swan. “It clearly speaks to the quality of the choral music-making program at Lawrence.”

Swan, who serves as co-director of choral studies at Lawrence, also leads the Lawrence Hybrid Ensemble (jazz, early, contemporary, and world music) in addition to Cantala. He teaches courses in conducting, musical theater, music education and coaches student organized a cappella groups.

Active in the Appleton community, he serves as choir director at Appleton Alliance Church and conductor for the adult community choir, the White Heron Chorale.

Britain’s Radiohead Gets a Musical Makeover by Lawrence Jazz Department

The music of the inventive and popular English alternative rock band Radiohead gets a major makeover in Lawrence University’s ambitious Radiohead Jazz Project.

A dozen Radiohead songs, rearranged for large jazz ensemble format by an international array of composers, make their world premiere March 8-9 in a pair of  performances by the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble and the Lawrence University Jazz Band. The concerts, at 8 p.m. both nights in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center, are free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Contact the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

The project was hatched last summer, when Fred Sturm, Lawrence’s director of jazz studies and improvisational music and colleague Patty Darling, director of the jazz band, discussed the feasibility of a Radiohead large jazz ensemble arranging initiative to bring added relevancy to the music their students play.

“I’ve heard too many collegiate jazz concerts that don’t include a single selection composed within the lifetime of the students,” said Sturm. “I want my students to be able perform the music of their time, not just the music of their forebears. Radiohead has been an international phenomenon for 25 years. Our students grew up with their music. The jazz-influenced works of Radiohead seemed the perfect focus for a jazz big band program.”

Darling, in collaboration with Williamette University’s James Miley, who was among the first to arrange Radiohead works for the large jazz ensemble, compiled a list of more than a dozen Radiohead tunes they felt best lent themselves to jazz ensemble.  Among the choices were the hits “Kid A,” “Idioteque,” “Knives Out,” and “Paranoid Android.”

To generate the music, Sturm recruited an international group of jazz arrangers — Germany’s Florian Ross and Sherisse Rogers, staff arranger for the Netherlands’ Metropole Orchestra — as well as young American composers with an affinity for Radiohead’s music, including collegiate jazz faculty members from California, Texas, Oregon, Kansas and Iowa. Sturm and Darling each contributed one arrangement to the project as well.

“This project has been a wonderful opportunity for musical growth,” said Darling.  “The students get to experience firsthand how these talented writers approach Radiohead’s music, how they alter the forms and harmonic structures and orchestrate for jazz ensemble. We are hoping that this project can serve as a kind of primer for contemporary arranging and composing.”

Many jazz solo artists and small ensembles have recorded Radiohead songs, including pianist Brad Mehldau (“Exit Music from a Film,” “Knives Out”), saxophonist Chris Potter (“Morning Bell”) and singer Jamie Cullum (“High and Dry”).

“Radiohead songs are among the ‘new standards’ being explored by jazz soloists and combos,” said Sturm, “and packaging them for the large jazz ensemble is a logical progression. This project is the first grand-scale effort to arrange multiple Radiohead compositions for the jazz big band.”

Formed in 1985, Radiohead released its first album in 1993 and achieved notoriety in their native United Kingdom shortly thereafter.  International recognition followed shortly and in 2005, the five-member band was ranked 73rd in Rolling Stone’s list of “The Greatest Artists of All Time.” Many consider Radiohead the most inventive and successful band in the modern rock era.

In recent years, the band has traded conventional instrumentation and standard song forms for rhythms and grooves seldom found in the rock genre. Radiohead lead guitarist and principal arranger Jonny Greenwood claims the band draws many conceptual elements from jazz.

“We bring in our favorite jazz albums and say: ‘We want to do this.’ That’s what we do and that’s what bands have always done, since the late ’50s — a bunch of guys in England listening to American blues records and copying them. In our case, it’s jazz.”

Radiohead’s latest CD, “King of Limbs,” released in mid-February, has drawn praise for its jazz influences.  In its review, The Chicago Tribune says “The new Radiohead never resolves the friction between the physical freedom of dance music and the carefully constructed architecture of more insular, inward looking art-pop. Its reference points are abstract jazz-fusion albums that implied funk without actually embracing it: Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew,” Herbie Hancock’s “Sextant.” That’s heady, serious territory.”

Following the March premiere, the Radiohead Jazz Project will be performed at three of the nation’s top collegiate jazz programs:  the University of North Texas, University of Miami and the Eastman School of Music. Sierra Music Publications, one of the major publishers of large jazz ensemble music, will distribute the print music as a series in the fall. In September, the HR Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany will record and tour with the project.

“We think we’re onto something very special,” said Sturm.  “There’s tremendous enthusiasm afoot among professional ensembles, university programs and high school jazz ensembles about this music.  We hope it will have a great future and we hope that audiences will love it, too.”

Biologist Ron Peck Receives $289,000 Grant from National Institutes of Health

Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Biology Ron Peck has been awarded a $289,390 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The three-year award will support Peck’s innovative research in biochemistry that employs the hardy microbe Halobacterium, which thrives in the concentrated salt water of the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea. This tiny but strange organism makes a “sunscreen” from the same chemicals that turn tomatoes red and carrots orange.

Ron Peck

The NIH grant will enable Peck to investigate further how Halobacterium create the proper balance of these chemicals, providing insight into how all living things maintain the correct balance. Similar phenomena are found inside human cells, where chemical imbalances can lead to various diseases, including Alzheimer’s and retinitis pigmentosa.

“It’s fascinating to me that a microbe living in some of Earth’s most inhospitable places can reveal how molecules interact in our own bodies,” said Peck. “These obscure organisms may hold the key to solving the mystery of some of these diseases.”

The grant also will enhance Lawrence’s Student Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program, enabling more than a half dozen students during the summer to assist Peck in his research.

The NIH’s AREA grant program supports medical research at small universities like Lawrence where undergraduate students are active participants. In addition to advancing medical research, the program helps train the next generation of doctors and scientists.

“Receiving this grant demonstrates that high level research can and is being conducted at Lawrence,” said Peck, who joined the faculty in 2006.  “The most gratifying times in my career are when students make breakthroughs when conducting research. You can really see how exciting it is for them to discover something that is completely new knowledge to science.”

Peck, whose scholarship includes microbiology, evolution and genomics, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Linfield College and his Ph.D. in biomolecular chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Based in Bethesda, Md., the National Institutes of Health is the largest source of funding for medical research in the world, supporting thousands of scientists in universities and research institutions in every state across America and around the globe. It operates under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.