Pomona College

Congratulations to Elena Kim ’21 who has won a national undergraduate mathematics award after being selected as the recipient of the Alice T. Shafer Mathematics Prize established by the Association for Women in Mathematics. The annual prize is presented to one undergraduate woman for excellence in the field.

President G. Gabrielle Starr sent out this message today to the Pomona College community regarding yesterday's disturbing events at the Capitol.

Recent graduate Marc Rod '20 was in D.C. covering yesterday's events on Capitol Hill. Read his latest report for Jewish Insider.

Check out some of our Pomona College alumni who have told their stories during the latest season of Sagecast, the podcast of Pomona College. Chirp!

Happy New Year! Chirp chirp!

Language learning has continued to flourish throughout 2020! Check out this Q&A with Oldenborg directors Carolina De la Rosa Bustamante and Associate Professor of Spanish Paul Cahill.

For his outstanding research and teaching, Chemistry Professor Nicholas Ball has won a prestigious award honoring young faculty with an unrestricted grant that provides for student research opportunities in collaboration with his own work.

From foreign policy to climate change to the effect on local races, Professors Mietek Boduszyski, Tom Le, Char Miller and Sara Sadhwani take a closer look at the positions of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on these issues.

This week, we’re joined by Professor of Psychological Science and Africana Studies Eric A. Hurley, whose research in cognitive development focuses on understanding and improving the social and educational outlook of African American and other minority children. Our conversation with Professor Hurley explores the power of cultural values in shaping students’ educational experience and the importance of understanding those values in creating an educational environment in which they can thrive. Listen to the full episode at pomona.edu/sagecast.

Pomona College students are using the CRISPR techniques that made Jennifer Doudna ’85 our first graduate to win a Nobel Prize as they conduct research on campus and beyond. The work is done with a healthy dose of inspiration from the young woman who posed for her senior photo on Marston Quad some 35 years ago.

This week our guest is Mac Barnett ’04, the author of such beloved children’s books as Extra Yarn and The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse. His latest book, A Polar Bear in the Snow, is his 47th book. In this episode, Barnett shares stories about his Pomona College mentor, the late Professor David Foster Wallace, and his exchanges with children who’ve reached out to him about his books. He also talks about his experiences as a writer of children’s books and his insights into the way children think and feel. Listen to the full episode at pomona.edu/sagecast.

Today we celebrate 133 years since the founding of Pomona College. This Founders Day, the celebration of our beginning must start with recognition of the first beginning. A message from President G. Gabrielle Starr and Julia Bogany, Tongva Tribal Elder and Elder in Residence at The Claremont Colleges.

New grad Kellen Browning ’20 is making a name for himself at The New York Times. Read how a liberal arts education prepared the former editor of The Student Life for his career in journalism.

Great news today: Jennifer Doudna '85 receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Big congratulations from the College! Full story here on Doudna's Pomona days and breakthrough science:

Big news! Jennifer Doudna '85 will receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her pioneering discovery of a gene-editing tool that has revolutionized genetic engineering. Doudna, professor and researcher at UC Berkeley, is co-recipient of the Nobel with her collaborator, Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin. Doudna is the first graduate of Pomona College to receive a Nobel Prize. Jennifer Doudna’s revolutionary researc...h in gene editing and her thoughtful consideration of its implications hold the potential to change the lives of countless people around the globe, said Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. Full story: https://www.pomona.edu//07-jennifer-doudna-85-awarded-nobe

With current events of raging wildfires and threatening hurricanes, the climate crisis is both clear and present. Prof. Adam Pearson, a leading scholar in the field of behavioral climate policy, discusses insights from human psychology in designing and implementing climate action.

It’s #NationalVoterRegistrationDay! PomonaVotes, led by Michaela Shelton ’21 and Naomi Tilles ’22, is launching an effort to get every eligible Pomona College student voter to cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 election.

Early on in life, Harvard Medical College student Aseal Birir ’18 was forced to confront what it means to be a Black male in the U.S. As a Pomona student, Intro to Africana Studies and Africana Political Theory classes illuminated the experience further and the chemistry major is an outspoken advocate for all Claremont Colleges students to take Africana studies courses.

With sadness, we share that former English Professor Stanley Crouch has died. He was 74.

As intense wildfires continue burning in most of the West, Prof. Char Miller is one of the go-to experts for news media on the role of climate change in wildfires. He has fielded interviews from outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Deutsche Welle and written op-eds for The Hill. In case you missed it, listen to his radio interview with NPR’s Morning Edition.