GREAT Day
GREAT Day, an acronym for Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement & Talent, is an annual celebration of the projects, research, and extracurricular activities that students have been up to over the past year. Students of all majors and interests hosted sessions or presented posters for their fellow students and staff, showcasing the opportunities available to them both academically and personally.
With classes canceled for the day, all students had the opportunity to attend any of the sessions and the keynote speech. Many students took this opportunity to support their friends and peers and check out interesting topics. I personally attended the poster sessions where students were presenting research they have been conducting and was very impressed with the work presented. Here’s a snapshot of some of what I saw:
In the biology department, sophomore biochemistry major Xander Michaels, sophomore biophysics and chemistry major Anthony Rizzo, and biochemistry and chemistry professor Ruel McKnight have been conducting research into the relationship between genetics and cancer. Specifically, their research focused on telomeres, or the very tips of chromosomes, where structures known as G4 DNA reside, and how instability in their chemical structure can lead to genetic abnormalities that are connected to the disease.
McKnight and his students illustrated in their lab how to stabilize G4 DNA and tested different drugs to understand whether or not they stabilized the chemical structure of G4 DNA. Their results were promising, which could lead to further research and therapies for cancer in years to come.
Meanwhile, Matthew Pastizzo, an associate professor in the psychology department, has been doing language research—more specifically, Pastizzo’s lab researched how framing sentences in a positive or negative way affected people’s attitudes. Participants in this study read emails concerning a variety of topics that college students might receive on a daily basis framed either negatively or positively, and then rated how easily the emails were understood and the tone of the emails.
The study found that the negatively framed emails were more quickly processed by the brain and reasoned that this was because it feels more natural to frame our sentences in a negative way, saying “don’t hesitate to…” rather than “feel free to…”. They also found that the more urgent the email, the more negative the email was perceived. This has implications for how we speak in our daily lives with family members, friends, coworkers, even the Starbucks barista. Improving language can improve how an individual and the situations that they are involved in are perceived, and therefore how people interact with someone.
The a cappella groups on campus performed a few songs from each group. A wide variety of songs were sung, from “Euphoria” scores to uplifting oldies. A stunning performance that I can personally attest to entertained the audience in Doty for a full hour of musical bliss.
The keynote address was delivered by Diane Stanitski, a Geneseo alum and Deputy Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML). At the GML, Stanitski monitors greenhouse gases and other substances that make up the atmosphere. This work makes significant contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPPC). Stanitski spoke about her experiences in rural Alaska, and how climate change has affected the daily lives of the people who live there over time.
Overall, GREAT Day was a huge success. Dozens of students presented their activities eloquently, providing academic and personal engagement across the campus community.
