Earth sciences professor Arjun Heimsath received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work with soil erosion and sustainability, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced on April 5. Out of almost 2,800 applicants, only 189 artists, scholars and scientists were chosen to receive one of the coveted fellowships. The Guggenheim Fellowship program considers applications in 78 different fields, and the 2007 Fellows represent 77 different institutions. According to Heimsath's website at Dartmouth, his "current and pending research projects and interests build upon the fundamental need for a field-based, mechanistic, and quantitative understanding of landscape processes and evolution." Heimsath was one of five Indian Americans to receive Guggenheim Fellowships this year.
Wearing seatbelts will be required for all automobile passengers if a bill passed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives Thursday is approved by the Senate. Currently, New Hampshire is the only state in the country without a law requiring all adults to wear seatbelts. Those under 18 are required to use a seatbelt, but there are no restrictions on adult drivers and passengers. In an official statement, the Republican house minority office called the bill "an assault on personal freedom." Senate president Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord, has said the state of New Hampshire would gain more than $3 million in federal highway aid if the bill is passed by the Senate and becomes a law, according to the Union Leader. New Hampshire currently has an adult seatbelt use rate of 64 percent, the lowest in the nation, according to the Union Leader.
The 45th Mascoma Slalom canoe and kayak race was held in Lebanon on Saturday. The race, sponsored by Dartmouth's Ledyard Canoe Club, featured only 15 competitors due to freezing temperatures. Zoe Acher '08 won the women's recreational division with a combined two-run time of 993 seconds. Alex Steinberg '07 won the men's racing class with a 627-second time, using a fiberglass kayak and helmet he made himself. Nell Campbell '05 won the women's racing class with a time of 871 seconds. The Ledyard Canoe Club has hosted the Mascoma Slalom, one of the oldest continuous slalom races in the country, since 1963, according to the Valley News. The race, which previously served as a qualifying race for the U.S. team trials, has suffered from lack of participation in recent years.
