Ripon News

Christina Othon

• Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• M.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• B.S., University of Iowa

Born and raised in Illinois, I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I went to graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln earning a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics. After that, I conducted research at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. on 3D tissue printing for regenerative medicine, and at Caltech investigating protein hydration dynamics, before beginning my own academic research career and teaching. My research now focuses on how liquid dynamics can modify and regulate biological processes. I have had a very diverse career that allowed me to work closely with researchers in other disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and medicine. This experience has informed my teaching and mentoring of undergraduate research students. I aim to demonstrate to students in other majors, how physics can inform topics in their own disciplines.

Students continue to conduct research in Kovack-Lesh’s Infant Cognition Lab

Since 2008, Associate Professor of Psychology Kristine Kovack-Lesh has been conducting research alongside students in her Infant Cognition Lab. Located in the basement of Todd Wehr Hall, the Infant Cognition Lab focuses on the mental development stages of infants and young children. Every year, students interested in psychology get involved by running tests and conducting […]

Andrew Limouris ’94 wins Entrepreneur of the Year honor

Andrew Limouris ’94 of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, president and CEO of Medix, received the award for the 2017 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Midwest in June. Medix is an international organization dedicated to workforce solutions and recruiting employees for the science, healthcare and IT industries. Limouris had always dreamed of starting […]

Three students present at national mathematics conference

Three Ripon College students presented talks at Mathfest, a national mathematics conference held in Chicago in July. Mathfest is the annual conference of the Mathematical Association of America. Ngan Tran ’17 of Pleiku City, Vietnam, presented “An Analysis of Quantitative Methods to Detect Gerrymandering” in one of the Pi Mu Epsilon Math Honors Society sessions. […]

Have you heard? Maggie Hall ’08 uses sound to enhance theatre performances

Maggie Hall ’08 of Indianapolis, Indiana, fell in love with sound when she heard a special scream. “My parents took my brother and I to see a show called ‘The Woman in Black.’ It’s basically a ghost story,” Hall says. “My brother and I were young, 10 and 8, or thereabout. There is a moment […]

Christine Anhalt-Depies ’09 featured in USA Today article

Christine Anhalt-Depies ’09 of Madison, Wisconsin, a graduate student in conservation biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was spotlighted in a recent article in USA Today. The article highlights the Snapshot Wisconsin Project, which is led completely by community volunteers who help set up trail cameras, take photos and document wildlife in the region. “It’s […]

Ripon College featured as a ‘best college’ by The Princeton Review

Ripon College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company’s 2018 edition of “The Best 382 Colleges” was released today. Only about 15 percent of the country’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two colleges outside the United States are profiled, with detailed profiles and rating […]

Summer research helps Taryn Bosquez ’19 gain valuable research skills

While she was taking the genetics course of Professor of Biology Mark Kainz, Taryn Bosquez ’19 stood out. “I chose her because she was a very engaged and a successful student in my genetics class, and she seemed to be very interested in molecular genetics,” Kainz says. This summer, Kainz selected Bosquez to assist him […]

New kind of publishing nets alumna contract for six novels

Ellie Byler ’12 has loved writing and storytelling all her life. Now, she is writing stories for struggling readers, to help expand their interest in an art to which she is devoted. Byler, who writes under the penname Raelyn Drake, has three novels coming out in fall 2017, the first half of her six-part series […]

Liberal arts versatility led to new career as museum curator

As a museum curator, currently at the National Museum of the American Sailor, Lynne Phillips ’98 has taken full advantage of the knowledge she gained from her liberal arts education at Ripon College. Phillips majored in biology and French at Ripon because she always felt a natural draw to the natural sciences and history. However, […]

Professor of Biology Bob Wallace publishes article with 22 scientists from around the world

“It was controlled chaos,” says Dr. Robert Wallace, professor of biology, about the decision to publish one paper with 22 scientists from 13 different countries. “Fifteen species in one: deciphering the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera, Monogononta) through DNA taxonomy” establishes a protocol for other scientists wishing to study the species barriers in rotifers. It […]

Alumna’s work on view at Monroe Arts Center

An exhibit of work by Kay Gebhardt Kittell ’54 is on view at the Monroe Arts Center, 1315 11th St., Monroe, Wisconsin. “A Life With Paint” runs through Aug. 11. Kittell’s son, Matt, is a member of the Class of 1988. Kittell died in 2011. She formerly lived north of Waupun, Wisconsin. At Ripon College, […]

Retired social worker keeps active with yoga classes, traveling the world

Carrol Maynard Falberg ’48 discovered a passion for social work while she was a student at Ripon College, and that passion has carried her through an active lifetime of work, tring. At the age of 91, she continues to teach yoga classes, serve on multiple volunteer committees through her church and travel with her family. […]

Opinion piece critisizes Obama’s role in Paris Accord

An opinion piece co-written by Associate Professor of Politics and Government Lamont Colucci was published on July 18 on The Washington Times website. This editorial, co-written by former CIA director R. James Woolsey, criticized former President Barack Obama and his actions with the Paris Accord. “Subverting the role of the treaty in American diplomacy” goes […]

Patrick Willoughby awarded $70,000 research grant

A $70,000 grant award has been approved for Assistant Professor of Chemistry Patrick Willoughby. The American Chemical Society will present the grant to further Willoughby’s current research to develop new methods for the synthesis of organic molecules.

Jack Ankerson ’64 lends his voice to sports announcing

A feature story about alumnus Jack Ankerson ’64 of Norfolk, Virginia, “Once a pro hoops executive, Jack Ankerson has become the ‘Voice of Hampton Roads Sports,’ “ was published by The Virginian-Pilot online, July 8. Ankerson majored in history at Ripon College and is a Ripon Athletics Hall of Famer. For years, he has been […]

Article addresses recent statement for diversity in Fond du Lac County

“Can Fond du Lac embrace diversity? Some community leaders say yes,” about a diversity initiative in Fond du Lac County, was published Monday in the Fond du Lac Reporter. Ripon College President Zach Messitte is a signer of the Statement in Support of Diversity in Fond du Lac County. “The brainchild of Ripon College, Marian […]

Red Hawks cycling reinvigorated by alumnus gift

The Ripon College Cycling program has received a renewed “kickstart” thanks to a major gift by cyclist Kyle Greene ‘15 of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and his family. Their $250,000 donation to Red Hawks Cycling includes funds to hire the team’s first full-time varsity coach and establishes The Greene Family Cycling Room within the new Willmore Center […]

Osprey banding in Green Lake completed

The annual banding of young osprey in Green Lake was completed Monday for the fourth summer in a row by Memuna Khan, associate professor of biology and chair of the biology department. The project began in 2014 when Khan was asked by the Green Lake Association to track the patterns and habits of these birds […]

New physics associate professor comes with his own lasers

On a recent Friday morning, a moving truck pulled up outside of Farr Hall of Science. Brett Barwick, a new associate professor of physics at Ripon College, opened the driver’s door and walked to the back of the vehicle. Inside were piles of boxes with the label “lasers.” “The major pieces of equipment (are) a […]