When describing Annika Nygren, no one could have done a more eloquent job than her friend Mercedes MacAlpine ’16, who presented Nygren as “pretty much sunshine in human form.”
“Her smile is radiant, her positivity and sincerity are contagious, her mind is always working, and her resting state is one of compassion and harmony,” MacAlpine said.
Once a biology major at the college, Emily Stern ’83 has now integrated her science education at Amherst and medical training at Cornell into revolutionizing functional neuroimaging for studying functions of the brain. The director of Functional and Molecular Neuroimaging and of the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the primary teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School, Stern is a leading expert in imaging of neuropsychiatric diseases.
A Determined Researcher
Major: Music
Advisors: David Schneider (academic advisor), Mark Swanson (instrumental advisor), Mallorie Chernin (choral advisor)
Q: What is your thesis about?
JHS: Luca and I are doing a joint choral and conducting thesis, in which we are each conducting a 20-person choir as well as a small-size orchestra.
LA: Jordan is conducting Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” and I am conducting Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” In addition to the orchestral repertoire, we are both conducting choral pieces by Barber, Copland and other American composers.
Two weeks ago, Amherst College received media attention when Newsweek covered the story of an e-mail that was sent to the student body prior to Homecoming weekend. The article, titled “College Warns of Drunk, Sexually Aggressive Alumni,” points to the offensively worded sections of the e-mail.
