Muhlenberg athletes spent the summer of 2017 doing some neat things on campus, in the Lehigh Valley, in their hometowns and even around the world.
Anthony Calantoni, men's cross country/track & field and Hayley Peterson and Kristina Qualben, softball - Special Olympics volunteers
The Summer Check-In series wraps up in a "Special" way with three athletes who volunteered their time to work with Special Olympics.
Anthony Calantoni coached track and field for Northampton County at the Pennsylvania Summer Special Olympic Games.
"The experience was tremendously rewarding!" he said. "We spend three action-packed days in Penn State for the annual Pennsylvania Special Olympics.
"I am fortunate to have the opportunity to engage with the athletes and become close to many of them over the years. They truly LOVE being at the summer games. It is apparent by the excitement and smiles you see every day. All of them succeed in their own way and that is all anyone is looking for.
"As a Muhlenberg athlete, I encourage everyone to get involved and see for yourself how inspiring Special Olympic athletes can be."
Hayley Peterson and Kristina Qualben spent the summer teaching softball skills to Lehigh County Special Olympics athletes every week.
"We run fielding drills and then spend the rest of the practice scrimmaging," said Peterson. "I even got to pitch in a scrimmage ... I'd be lying if I said they didn't crush my fastball!
"The athletes are talented and fun and always keep you on your toes. I'm so lucky to have met some wonderful people and to get to help coach a sport that's given me so much." |
Hannah Molk, women's tennis and Hanna Caiola, softball - genetics research
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Hannah Molk (center) and Hanna Caiola (right) conducted genetics research under Dr. Amy Hark, associate professor of biology, this summer.
Molk described the research as follows:
"The Hark lab is interested in exploring a possible connection between a DNA structure modifier (GCN5) and early developmental processes in plants. In order to explore this connection, we looked at mutations in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
"Mutations exhibited by these plants consist of changes in the number of trichomes (hairs on plants), and dwarfism. By conducting various experiments with mutant and wild type plants, we explored possible cross-talk between GCN5 and genes associated with trichome development."
This is the second straight summer doing research on campus for Caiola. Last year, she studied the 16th-century Italian epic poem Orlando Furioso. Here's what she had to say about her interdisciplinary studies:
"Studying at Muhlenberg is great because it gives me the opportunity to learn and discover a lot about all of my interests. I put most of my focus into my neuroscience major because this is the degree I would like to use in my future career. In addition to my interest in science, I also have a huge interest in Italian linguistics and culture.
"I had an amazing opportunity to conduct molecular biology research independently as an undergraduate this summer. There are many students who have a wide array of interests and Muhlenberg makes it very easy to explore all of them." |
Christian Navarro, men's soccer - PricewaterhouseCoopers intern
"This summer, I returned for my second year as an intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their assurance line of practice.
"I assisted with second-quarter audits for a couple of our clients in the healthcare, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and utilities industries here in the Chicago market.
"As luck would have it, I had the opportunity to work on one of the firm’s high-profile clients in the market, so I was able to learn about some more advanced accounting topics beyond the classroom setting.
"Furthermore, I continued to expand my network by interacting with my fellow interns and other higher-level professionals on my teams and within the firm as a whole by attending social events, such as a Ping-Pong tournament!
"I celebrated the conclusion of the internship with my intern class in Orlando, Florida. I am looking forward to heading back to campus for preseason this week!" |
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Brandi Vallely, women's basketball - Santander Arena marketing and communications intern
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"I am a marketing and communications intern at Santander Arena. I work at the arena twice a week and am there on the weekends for shows.
"I've worked a WWE event and shows by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Eli Young Band, Johnny Mathis and several tribute bands. I also had the chance to meet the band members of Sister Hazel (their most notable song being "All for You") and help arrange that outdoor concert!
"On show days I help with VIP Suite events, hand out brochures and talk with people about upcoming performances.
"On a regular day I help my supervisors create marketing plans, which is basically a budget for radio, social media and newspaper for different concerts. I and several other interns are working on making a brochure of the Santander Arena staff and the year as a whole dealing with revenue, attendance rates and box office numbers, which is pretty cool! I also do a lot of grunt work, like street team posters, making cold calls and answering voice mails.
"It's been an interesting experience!" |
Patrick Sockler, wrestling - shadowing doctors
"This is my second summer pursuing clinical experience in the medical field, in both private practice and hospital settings.
"A few days a week, I shadow a dermatologist at Windsor Dermatology, getting exposure to the medical, surgical and cosmetic aspects of dermatology. Visits to the dermatologist due to wrestling piqued my interest in the specialty.
"The practice is also a renowned clinical research and treatment center for psoriasis, a very debilitating dermatologic skin disorder, so I'm exposed to a lot of recent work regarding the study and treatment of the condition.
"Additionally, I shadow an interventional neuroradiologist at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
"These neurosurgical procedures often involve the navigation of catheters through blood vessels up to the brain to treat a variety of conditions, including the placement of stents for aneurysms, the treatment of genetic vascular abnormalities, and the endovascular treatment of strokes." |
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Kelly Tornetta, volleyball - muon detector research
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"I spent my summer in the physics department as part of a team researching muon detectors.
"Muons are elementary particles similar to electrons. Half of my team spent the summer designing a detector, while my partner and I created a detector simulation.
"Our simulation was designed to be used in the undergraduate classroom as an interactive experiment. It will be included in a textbook that teaches particle physics so once published, our simulation will be used to help teach both physics and coding.
"As wonderful as it is to have a finished project, I am sad to leave the Muhlenberg Summer Research Team!"
note: Tornetta's faculty mentor is Dr. Brett Fadem, associate professor of physics |
Mickey Schindler, men's tennis - creative marketing intern in Israel
"This summer, I went to Israel to work for a startup tech company called "BeLive.tv" through Onward Israel.
"BeLive is a company that creates specialized broadcast formats through Facebook Live. I found my place in the company as a creative marketing intern specializing in creating Facebook Ads.
"The program also took me on many excursions throughout Israel and seminars to learn about the current political state of Israel. I also accepted a position with BeLive team throughout my senior year as a creative marketer. I then traveled to Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Florence and the Amalfi Coast with some friends.
"This summer has been great, but I am ready and very excited to get back to Muhlenberg and start the fall tennis season!" |
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Ellen Shephard, women's cross country/track & field - Johns Hopkins Burn Center research assistant
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"This summer, I am a research assistant in the Burn Intensive Care Unit (BICU) of the Johns Hopkins Burn Center.
"I am working with the chief burn psychologist on his research project to implement a drug intervention in wound care that could reduce opioid use and related side effects while managing pain more effectively. We will be monitoring pain severity and pain unpleasantness for burn patients before, during, and after dressing changes to track the effectiveness of the intervention.
"I have been working with another research assistant to create a web database for the project that we will use during each session. Once it is completed, we will begin working in the BICU with the patients and nurses during dressing changes to record patient vitals and responses.
"Burn injuries include burns from cooking oil, scalding, electrical and flame. I have also had the opportunity to participate in wound rounds in an adjacent facility, covering wounds due to pressure, dehiscence and trauma.
"It's been a very eye-opening experience to share what these burn patients go through during recovery." |
Kelly Travitz, women's cross country/track & field - enzyme research
"For my summer research I have been working with an enzyme lmbb1. We have mutated the enzyme's amino acid sequence at a critical position, and are now using UV-visible spectroscopy to see how this mutation will affect the enzyme's function when it is bound to the substrate L-DOPA.
"By learning how the enzyme works, we could eventually be able to use the enzyme to break down lignin, a plant material, to make and access more affordable biofuels.
"Doing research at Muhlenberg over the summer has definitely been my most engaging summer job, and while it is frustrating that my experiments do not always yield the type of results I am looking for, it is extremely exciting when they do.
"I am glad Muhlenberg is able to give me this type of research experience as an undergrad. It has really made me aware of the all the possibilities open to me after graduation!"
note: Travitz' faculty mentor is Keri Colabroy, associate professor of chemistry |
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Kenny Freid, baseball - Union County Prosecutor's Office intern
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"This summer I am interning with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in Elizabeth, N.J.
"I am stationed in the Information Technology Unit but I also spend time in the courtroom observing trials and sentencing, shadowing prosecutors and speaking with judges. Every Wednesday, the interns attend talks/presentations from various units in the Prosecutor’s Office.
"One of my favorite presentations was from the K-9 Unit. The officers informed us of how the dogs are trained and then gave a demonstration showing how they find drugs.
"I also attended a tour given by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) at Newark Airport. The tour highlighted the process the DEA goes through when looking for illegal money and drugs on airplanes. We also spent a day with the Union County Marine Unit and went out into New York Harbor to see how the harbor is policed and how the waterways, bridges and buildings along the shorelines are kept safe.
"One of my favorite experiences this summer was when I attended FATS (Firearms Training Simulator). FATS is a training simulator that police officers use to prepare for real-life situations.
"This internship has opened my eyes to many career opportunities and I am looking forward to what the coming weeks have to offer." |
Luke Wiley, football - Ultimate Tic Tac Toe research
Under the direction of faculty mentor Dr. Eugene Fiorini, Muhlenberg football player Luke Wiley is researching the game Ultimate Tic Tac Toe this summer.
full video
full story |
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Olivia Nacheff, women's lacrosse - brand ambassador/hospitality intern
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"This summer I am working as a brand ambassador at the company Rooftop2 Productions for the brand Ford. I spend my weekends traveling to Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Coney Island, primarily engaging with fans/spectators to discuss Ford and giving them a chance to try our virtual reality Ford experience.
"Each individual that we speak with is able to participate in our VR experience and even get a pair of Ford headphones. Throughout this experience I have met and interacted with a broad range of individuals who love learning more about Ford.
"I am also working as a hospitality intern at a company called Think PR during the weekdays. I work with clients such as W Hotels, Ocean Prime, Four Points by Sheraton, Polar Seltzer and MILK.
"Our primary goal is developing ideas for events and gifting items along with creating press clips and media lists. Each morning I look at various media outlets and find different coverage on our clients. This allows us to see how we have helped get the word out about their brand.
"This experience has taught me what working in PR is all about. I have gotten the chance to work behind the scenes at some company events and write pitches that increase awareness to the public about our clients." |
Michael Havkins, men's track & field - travel across United States
"As I quickly learned while studying abroad in The Netherlands this past fall, there’s nothing more appealing than traveling the world and taking on new adventures. Towards the end of my spring semester, my girlfriend (who I met while studying abroad) and I decided to plan a Midwestern road trip to explore more of what the United States has to offer.
"With an itinerary full of national monuments, sporting events and restaurants featured on 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,' we left at the beginning of June and headed west toward Indianapolis.
"During our 16-state, 16-day road trip, we camped out in South Dakota just feet away from wild buffalo, right after visiting Mt. Rushmore, and stayed in beautiful Airbnb’s with fascinating hosts who were kind enough to make delicious breakfasts.
"One of my favorite memories was prior to eating deep-dish pizza in Chicago, when we passed by and checked out the NCAA headquarters and museum, which had a huge track and field display that made me very ecstatic.
"Later on in the trip while in Kansas City, we sampled the world’s hottest hot sauce (7.5 million Scoville!) right before eating at the top-ranked BBQ joint in the country, which definitely lived up to the hype!
"Given all of the great activities, outstanding food and unique personalities of the countless cities we passed through during the 5,000-mile trek, I will definitely continue adventuring whenever and wherever possible." |
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Carly DeNigris, women's soccer - biology research
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"This summer, my research partner and I are continuing research that we began in the fall. We take little axolotl larvae, and we place half of them in a low oxygen condition. After a set number of days, we observe the axolotls under the scanning electron microscope and are able to take high magnification images of the gills and nostril cilia.
"This allows us to analyze the effects of the low oxygen condition on this particular species, which is now almost extinct in the wild.
"The reason we are testing this species in low oxygen is because they used to reside in a polluted lake with low oxygen levels and we wanted to see if their gills and cilia levels adapt to these low oxygen conditions. In previous literature, it has been found that other salamander and frog species react in certain ways when kept in low oxygen, so we are taking that knowledge and applying it to our study with axolotls.
"As we come to a close on our summer research, I have learned that not everything in science goes as planned, and sometimes you have to work with the skills and knowledge that you have in order to come up with a solution. Not only has this research experience given me the chance to further develop my lab techniques, but it has also given me the opportunity to learn how to independently deal with all types of complications when they arise."
note: DeNigris' faculty mentor is Elizabeth McCain, professor of biology |
Michael Silverstein, men's track & field - decision-making research
"The research project is titled 'Affective Arguments Leading to Polarization in Medical Decision.'
"Our goal is to understand how knowledge about medical treatment can interact with affective information to influence willingness to do treatment. We are also evaluating how people weigh affective, anecdotal evidence compared to base rate information.
"In addition, we hope to see if medical professionals make decisions differently from people outside of the medical field.
"I have learned a great deal about heuristics and biases that affect our day-to-day decision making. Summer research gives me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in my area of interest and has reinforced my decision to try to attend graduate school and study decision making."
pictured: Silverstein with faculty mentor Dr. Laura Edelman |
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Kristina Qualben, softball - QxQ math research
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"I started my project during preseason. For Transitions into Abstract Math, I had to come up with a final project analyzing either a theorem or something to do with game theory.
"After brainstorming in the dining hall for a couple of hours, I came up with my game. It's called QxQ (pronounced Q by Q). As the semester was coming to an end, Dr. Fiorini invited me to further extend the research in the summer.
"The game is easier played than explained. In a simple example, imagine you're playing on a 3x3 grid. Player 1 writes a number 1 through 3 in any one of the boxes on the grid. Player 2 then has to move that many spaces horizontally and/or vertically and writes a number 1 through 3. This pattern alternates until there are no more spaces to move, and the last player to write wins.
"Since the end of the semester, the game has grown to be more complex. Throughout the summer, I and a team of three others have been analyzing strategies and possible solutions to the game on larger scales. We've looked at grids of all sizes and even dabbled in three-dimensional play on a Rubik's cube.
"We've developed a code that runs the game so you can play against a computer or another person. We've established promising results for smaller cases but are still searching for solutions on bigger grids."
"We are very excited to see what becomes of the game. Hopefully by the end of the summer, we'll have a paper published with our research." |
Alyssa Scott, field hockey - Lehigh Valley Health Network intern
"This summer I have an internship as a research scholar in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
"The research project I am working on is looking at the clinical outcomes associated with a new molecular test used to help diagnose central nervous system infections in children. I am comparing this new molecular test to more traditional tests, and I am assessing if this new test has an effect on length of hospital stay or duration of antimicrobials.
"In addition to doing research, I have had the opportunity to shadow a doctor who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases, and we have seen a variety of very interesting cases.
"Overall, it has been a great experience!" |
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Jake Gordon, wrestling - venture capital analyst in Tel Aviv
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"This summer I have been working as a venture capital analyst for Viola Group in Tel Aviv, Israel.
"As part of the largest private equity firm in the country, I do deal due diligence and market research/analysis on investment opportunities. I am here with the Birthright Israel Excel Fellowship, so in addition to the full-time internship we hear from interesting speakers three times a week.
"On the weekends we travel and have fun! I am training early in the mornings to prepare for my senior campaign.
"Sending my best wishes to Muhlenberg. Shalom!"
note: The Birthright Israel Excel Fellowship is a highly selective program designed for talented Jewish future leaders pursuing a career in business and/or entrepreneurship.. Last year, 60 students from 29 universities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada were chosen to participate from thousands of candidates. |
Erica Schultz, volleyball - team performance research
"My summer research project is titled 'Performance in Teams with Heterogenous Agents.'
"For my research, I will be looking to see how people exert effort in team or group environments where the teammates are of unequal ability. What we find sometimes happening in sports or even school projects is when a person is of lesser ability, they might give less effort knowing they will still reap the benefits of their teammate's effort. In addition, will the person of higher ability decide to make up for their teammate's disadvantage or will they also give less effort?
"Much of my project is figuring out a precise experimental design so that I can produce the right scenario. I will be recruiting students at Muhlenberg to be subjects in this study this coming fall.
"This research has helped me realize my passion for experimental and behavioral economics."
pictured: Schultz with faculty mentor Dr. Lindsay Nagy |
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Julia Leep-Lazar/Emily Davidson, women's track & field - tick research
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"My research has implications in the medical community, which is amazing. I find that there is much more freedom and less pressure in summer research because you are not trying to get the best grade, but are following a passion." - Leep-Lazar
These two teammates are following their passion for the second summer in a row. Last year, we visited with them as they were among a group of students under faculty mentor Marten Edwards who searched the Lehigh Valley for ticks. They subsequently tested the small insects to see which ones carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and worked to increase awareness in the area.
They are continuing their research this summer, and Davidson shared some insights on coming back for a second year:
"It's definitely a fulfilling experience in that I am just that much more acquainted with the project and our entire lab knows the research quite well. This summer each lab member definitely has more responsibilities than last summer, but it's been exciting for us to take on more and learn more about what we're doing.
"For instance, I do not have an extensive statistics background but I am learning about Bayesian statistical analysis in order to more thoroughly understand the analysis of our data in addition to eventually creating our own model.
"It's been exciting for our lab to be able to take our research one step further. We're not just complacent with doing exactly the same work we did last summer, and all of us have continued to learn more and more about our project."
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Matt Riebesell, baseball - SNY remote operations intern
"This summer I am working as a Remote Operations Intern for SNY (Sportsnet New York). SNY is the country's largest regional sports network and covers all New York Sports (hence the slogan: "Get your New York Sports here") while also airing 130 Mets games a year, Jets pre- and postgame shows and UConn women's basketball.
"As a remote ops intern I am getting a pretty full view of the company, and I have been working with and shadowing those from all different areas of the company. I spend my time in two different locations: 4 World Trade Center, which is where SNY's offices are located, and when the Mets are home I go to Citi Field to work and help out in the SNY TV truck and in the TV booth.
"I have been able to work on different research projects and editing projects, and I have gotten to meet a lot of amazing people in my time at SNY. I have really had an awesome time working with SNY so far and look forward to experience more of what goes into putting together a great sports event telecast."
note: Riebesell has written trivia questions that appear on broadcasts of Mets games and even got some airtime on a recent broadcast. |
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Rachel Plotke, women's basketball - Planned Parenthood intern
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"My title is 'HCAP Intern,' which stands for Health Center Advocacy Program. I work in the Health Center, interacting with patients to engage them in advocacy work, volunteering, or sharing their story. I also engage with community members to recruit supporters and volunteers, in addition to collaborating with other organizations like NextGen Climate, Women's March Pennsylvania and POWER Northeast.
"A lot of what we're doing right now is fighting defunding efforts, so some time is spent calling up supporters to ask to call their senators to vote no on the AHCA. In June we had a petition drop at Senator Toomey's office in Allentown an Allentown Pinks Out the Night! Rally outside the PPL Center.
"Later in July, I will be organizing our Allentown Healthy Neighborhood Canvassing event, where we will go door to door in Allentown informing community members about services PP provides, gathering more supporters and volunteers, etc. We also have plans of going down to D.C. for lobbying efforts to fight the proposed health care bill!"
note: Plotke was selected for the Community Internship Program, funded by Air Products and coordinated by Muhlenberg's Office of Community Engagement.
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Levelle Arnold, men's basketball - virtual reality research
"We are working with a virtual reality (VR) system to see if VR can be used to create realistic, first-person memories in a lab setting. Additionally, we are examining whether a visuospatial task can be used to disrupt consolidation of those realistic VR memories.
"In previous studies, it was shown that the game Tetris could be used as a visuospatial distractor, because it overloaded working memory and resulted in poorer recall. We are examining a VR visuospatial game, called SuperHyperCube, to see if it is more effective than Tetris at disrupting memory.
"The long term goal of this work is to develop techniques that can help people with memory-based psychological disorders (like posttraumatic stress disorder and depression).
"I am really excited to continue my research in the fall, and can see myself doing cognitive research as a career. This experience so far really opened my eyes to how important mental illnesses are and how we can potentially treat them without using drugs."
note: Arnold's faculty mentor is Gretchen Gotthard, associate professor of psychology & neuroscience |
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Emma Rosenthal, field hockey - Camp Charlie volunteer
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"This was my fourth year volunteering at Camp Charlie - a week long bereavement camp for children ages 6-12 who have lost a parent or sibling. A lot of the counselors, like myself, are former participants in the program and come back each summer to do for these kids what someone once did for us.
"Each morning of camp is spent addressing a different task of grieving through either art, music, or drama. This year I was in charge of the drama activity where we helped the campers to tell their story of loss and reflect upon their grief journey. The afternoons are filled with fun as each day we have a new exciting activity like carnival day, water play day or obstacle course day.
"The fun-filled afternoons show the campers that even though they've experienced a profound loss, it's okay to laugh and have fun as they come to accept their new normal." |
Know of someone else who should be on this list? Send an e-mail to
mikefalk@muhlenberg.edu.
