When completed, the CD will disseminate a variety of medieval source materials not readily available in this country, coupled with explanatory information that makes the materials accessible to teachers and students. The program is currently being tested around the country and has been used in two Mount Holyoke courses so far. This biological process is fundamental to life and plays a crucial role in energy production, metabolism, and the use of DNA information. Through her work with Decatur, Sridharan has honed her skills as a scientist while making valuable contributions to cutting-edge research. She has also been inspired to pursue a Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, in the fall of 2000.
Students often push research in new and different directions.
They make important intellectual contributions to the work and help push it forward. Statistics 140, taught by Cobb and offered for the first time in fall 1999, made use of an innovative hands-on curriculum that Cobb and two colleagues designed and are outlining in Statistics in Action, a textbook to be published in 2001. Cobb, Robert L. Rooke Professor of Statistics, uses a variety of unusual activities to teach students the basics of statistical methods, ranging from experimental design to regression analysis. In one exercise, a catapult was used to launch gummy bears in the air, exploring such principles as sources of variability, the value of protocol to keep things constant, and the use of randomization to protect against bias. During data collection, students contended with catapult misfires and the most effective way to record them.