A Passion for Science - Columbia College - Columbia University

Columbia CollEgE Today A PASSION FOR SCIENCE
How Environment Molds DNA
While mice may not be able to lie on a couch and
squeak about their problems, they can provide
valuable insight into how an animal’s environment
can alter the way in which it
develops, as psychology major Joanna wang ’11 is
showing.
For two years, Wang has been working in the lab
of psychology professor Frances Champagne, examining
how mice are affected by the environment
in which they are raised.
“We now know more that the environment plays
a significant role in affecting behavior,” Wang says.
“Not only are we passing on our DNA to our children
but also our experiences and our behaviors
influence them.”
Wang’s experiments, which are the basis of her senior
thesis, involve examining two sets of mice, one
that is raised in isolation and one that is raised in a
communal setting. She hopes the results of the study,
The World Is Her Laboratory
while most people are lucky if they land one job that
makes people say, “How cool!”, Meredith Martin
’09 is developing a career with one fascinating project
after the next.
Martin, who majored in Ecology, Evolution and Environmental
Biology, began doing meaningful, in-depth research the summer
after her sophomore year at the College, when she completed a
Research Experience for Undergraduates project at the American
Museum of Natural History. Working as a lab technician, she studied
the genetics of sea turtle populations.
“That’s one thing that’s great about going to
school in New York,” she says. “You have access
to all these great institutions.”
As part of the Ecology, Evolution and Environmental
Biology curriculum, Martin, who grew up
in Brooklyn, spent a summer doing research in the
mountains of Mexico. The results of that research
became the basis of her senior thesis. Working with
adjunct professor Charles Peters, who also is the
Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany at the Institute of
Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, Martin
studied the basic ecology of agave, which is used
Hechen ren ’11’s work in physics could seem abstruse
even to a high school science teacher. But Ren’s time at
Columbia College has allowed her to become a wellrounded
student despite spending many hours in the
laboratory.
Ren, who grew up in China, first fell in love with Columbia
on a visit to New York while she was a high school student. Enchanted
by the cultural offerings of the city and the Core Curricu-
Wang (right) and Rahia Mashoodh
’13 GSAS study how
the environment of mice can
alter their behavior.
Martin spent a summer doing field
research in the mountains of Mexico.
Applying Physics to Daily Life
MAY/JUNE 2011
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which is not yet complete, will reveal some of the social experiences
that can alter the DNA in animals, changing their behaviors
and the behaviors of future generations.
Wang plans to continue doing research in the fall
when she starts medical school. Although she is still
waiting to hear from some of the schools to which
she applied, she already has been accepted to several
schools, including Stanford.
She has been working in labs for some time and began
her science career at a science and technical high
school in Washington, D.C., where she was raised. The
influence of her teachers in high school guided her to
Columbia because of her many interests.
“They really stressed that to succeed, you needed
to take courses outside your field of interest,” Wang
says. “Columbia has a great science program, but it
was the Core Curriculum that really appealed to me.
I always enjoyed literature and philosophy, and that
tradition drew me to Columbia.”
in tequila as well as a high-end liquor, mescal.
She collaborated with a local NGO to figure out what influences
the plants’ growth and how to most effectively improve yields
while ensuring sustainability. Her work revealed that cattle trampling
the plants did the most harm.
“It was nice to be able to show definitively that it’s actually a
factor and submit results to the community,” Martin says. “The
findings had an effect on the farmers’ methods.”
The offerings in the E3B department were what initially drew
Martin to the College, but the opportunity to take
a wide-ranging curriculum sealed the deal.
“I liked the idea of having to take all these humanities
classes that I wouldn’t necessarily have
taken if I didn’t have the requirements,” she says.
Martin is now in the Master of Forest Science
program at the Yale School of Forestry, supported
by a fellowship from the New York Botanical
Garden. She continues to work with Professor
Peters, although she is now studying how the
growth of the camu camu fruit in the Peruvian
Amazon is being affected by the fruit’s increasing
popularity.
lum, she knew that the College would provide the broad education
she was seeking, as well the kind of students with whom she
could comfortably share her ideas.
“I was really into philosophy, and I thought that the Core
would be the way to force myself to learn,” she says. “Everyone is
learning the same thing, reading the same books, and we discuss
them. I knew that if I wanted to come to a new country, I wanted
to find the best way to learn about the culture.”