Construction of a 72-room hotel planned for downtown Hanover was postponed after the developer discovered soil contamination at the proposed building site during routine soil tests, The Valley News reported. The Olympia Companies of Portland, Maine, canceled its Planning Board meeting, scheduled for May 6, after the tests indicated low levels of contamination. The source of contamination is unknown, but Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin said it is likely from an underground oil tank, according to The Valley News. The company, which expects a report about the contamination in a few months, hopes to begin construction on the three-story brick hotel this summer and to finish the building in spring 2010. The plan also includes a restaurant and underground parking.
A group of young scientists displayed their research in Dartmouth's 17th Annual Wetterhahn Science Symposium, held in Fairchild Hall Thursday and Friday. Visitors browsed 98 presentations created by student researchers. Jessica Ogden '08 placed first in a competition for senior thesis writers. Ogden's research explored toxicity and efficacy of iron oxide nanoparticles for cancer therapy, which "introduces a new potential treatment option for cancer patients," she said. The thesis displays were judged by four Dartmouth faculty members affiliated with Sigma Xi national scientific research society. Keynote speaker Pamela Hines, a senior editor at Science, a weekly international journal, stressed the need for science to be incorporated more strongly into nationwide teacher training. The symposium is named for Karen Wetterhahn, a former professor of chemistry at the College and a co-founder of the Women in Science Project. Wetterhahn passed away in 1997 after a laboratory accident involving a highly toxic mercury compound. She was 48 when she died.
