John Taylor Babbitt '07 Memorial Field | alumni ... - Pingry School

means the university gives him projects
and he spends his time working
for the university. However, for the
benefit of the students who take his
course “Introduction to Scientific
Research,” now in its fifth year at
Pingry, Mr. Hata wanted time in the
lab to direct his own projects.
Why The mission of the course is to
give students hands-on opportunities
for practical applications of some of
the concepts they learned in Pingry’s
core science classes of biology, chemistry,
and physics. For example, in
biology, students learn how DNA
works and, in Mr. Hata’s course, students
learn how to extract and purify
DNA from bacteria and then modify
it to demonstrate the numerous
applications of recombinant DNA
technology in medicine, agriculture,
and other industries; recombinant
DNA is a piece of a DNA with different
origins.
“There often are protocols and methods
designed for a one-hour time
block, and to turn that into a
30-minute activity requires the time
to troubleshoot,” Mr. Hata says. He is
grateful to Pingry for the fellowship,
which paid for his lab expenses and
gave him time to fine-tune his ideas
and bring those projects back to the
classroom.
Not Just a Pretty
Picture
Ginny McGrath in focus mode
One of Ginny McGrath’s photos
Mathematics faculty member Ginny
McGrath has been volunteering as a
photographer for Pingry’s yearbook
and, to more effectively aide the
yearbook staff, her summer fellowship
enabled her to purchase a digital
camera and attend a six-day photography
workshop in Maine.
Each day’s schedule was filled with
activities from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00
p.m., followed by evening lectures
with international photographers.
Two days of shooting included a
beach in early morning fog and
people in a parade.
One of the highlights of the workshop
was learning how to use Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom to modify and
organize photos. She also gained a
better understanding of what makes
a good photo, in terms of composition,
and what to shoot.
“The message was ‘don’t just shoot a
photograph—shoot an emotion or a
feeling.’ That was a big lesson for me
because I hadn’t focused on it before.
I took some shots of beautiful flowers,
but they’re just photographs. This
idea made me think more creatively,”
she says.
Mrs. McGrath is grateful to Pingry
for the opportunity to attend the
workshop because she would not
otherwise have been able to go.
29
winter 2009