\u201cTo date, the only place where that particular hybrid has been found is that one little trail in the woods in Costa Rica,\u201d says Testo. \u201cI think that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recalling his first few weeks at Colgate in fall 2008, Testo admits he \u201chad no idea what I was doing.\u201d Without a major or career path in mind, the first-generation college student knew only that he had a deep interest in nature, cultivated during his childhood on a farm in rural Westerlo, N.Y. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, through \u201csheer luck,\u201d says Testo, he landed in Watkins\u2019 Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity class, where the professor shared his \u201cintoxicating enthusiasm\u201d for plants. Watkins, also in his first year at Colgate at the time, quickly became a mentor to Testo, helping him navigate both college life and his academic future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two began collaborating in the lab and on fieldwork in Costa Rica \u2014 Testo\u2019s first time outside the U.S. Their research on fern ecology and physiology produced several academic papers and helped Testo earn admission to University of Vermont\u2019s PhD program in plant biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watkins remembers learning of his namesake fern in an email from Testo. The subject line: \u201cSurprise for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest honor of my career,\u201d Watkins says, adding that his former student often jokes that, with its tufts of \u201cunkempt\u201d and graying hair, the Pityrogramma \u00d7watkinsii<\/em> resembles its honoree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe likes to give me a hard time,\u201d Watkins says, laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning his PhD in 2017, Testo went on to postdoctoral research in Florida and Sweden, and later, served as assistant curator of pteridophytes at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where he led the curation of the museum\u2019s fern collection. Today, he\u2019s back at Vermont as assistant professor of plant biology and director of the university\u2019s herbarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Testo and Watkins regularly catch up at professional conferences, teach, and travel together for research; their most recent trip to Costa Rica was this past January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWes was my first research student in the lab at Colgate, and I am now learning from him,\u201d says Watkins. \u201cAnd really, isn\u2019t that every professor\u2019s dream? That\u2019s why we do this in the first place.\u201d For organic chemists, making molecules in the lab is an important way to understand molecular structure and function \u2014 and how Professor Ernie Nolen developed the molecule that went on to bear his name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the mid-1980s, and Nolen, now Colgate\u2019s Gordon and Dorothy Kline Chair in chemistry, was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, working to build a newly discovered molecule found in certain wild grasses. When consumed, the molecule, known as a tremorgen, causes livestock to present with a halting stagger, convulsions, and even death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted to understand what in their structure causes that biological activity,\u201d says Nolen. \u201cIn this case, the molecule was causing a reaction similar to symptoms of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, or Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1985 Nolen successfully built the eastern hemisphere of the tremorgen, and his work was continued by Penn colleague Paul Sprengeler. The molecule was henceforth known as the Nolen-Sprengeler Lactone<\/em> and has resulted in hundreds of publications referencing Nolen\u2019s findings, advancing the study of fungus-produced tremorgens within the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, Nolen tends toward modesty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Having a molecule named after me] is a cool novelty,\u201d he says. \u201cLike the kind of thing my mother would have tacked on the fridge when I was a kid.\u201d Since beginning her research as a PhD student at Rice University, Amy Leventer has spent more than 40 years studying microfossils in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica \u2014 and a good portion of that time glued to the microscope, examining sediment samples to understand how Earth\u2019s climate has transformed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leventer, the Harold Orville Whitnall Professor of Earth and environmental geosciences, specializes in paleoclimatic reconstructions of Antarctica, using highly sensitive single-celled organisms, called diatoms, to determine how climate has affected, and will affect, life on Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDiatoms are highly sensitive to changes in climate,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo they\u2019re helpful as time markers in the geological record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One diatom species is especially useful in this regard \u2014 and has held special meaning for Leventer, both personally and professionally, since its discovery in 1998. In honor of her commitment and dedication to studying polar marine microorganisms, Leventer\u2019s colleagues named the diatom after her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rouxia leventerae<\/em> went extinct nearly 130,000 years ago at the end of the penultimate glacial interval, an often-referenced marker in climate research; Leventer estimates her diatom has been cited in hundreds of publications since its discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Rouxia leventerae<\/em>] marks the transition to the \u2018Last Interglacial,\u2019 which is the last time the Earth was warmer and sea level was higher than it is today,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a time period of great interest to people who study climate \u2014 a window into what the world may soon be like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name isn\u2019t just a point of pride for Leventer, but also for her family, who \u201csupported me when I went on these two-month treks to Antarctica,\u201d she says. Her son, a surgeon, has a line drawing of Rouxia leventerae<\/em> tattooed on his arm, and her husband, an emergency room physician, gifted her a pendant version for her recent milestone birthday. In Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard is a major thoroughfare named after a key figure in civil rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before he was a leader in Congress, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. \u201930 broke barriers at Colgate as one of the first African American students at the University when he enrolled in 1926. A \u201cquiet, unobtrusive\u201d student, according to his classmates, Powell graduated in 1930 with a degree in Biblical literature. He then returned to New York City, where his father had just retired as a well-known pastor of Harlem\u2019s Abyssinian Baptist Church. Powell Jr. took up the reins, using the pulpit to address socioeconomic inequalities and organize boycotts throughout Harlem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A charismatic and powerful speaker, Powell parlayed his popularity into a political career. He ran for his first seat in public office in 1941, becoming the first African American elected to the New York City Council. When Harlem became its own political entity through redistricting, Powell won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives \u2014 the first person to represent the neighborhood in Washington \u2014 and used his platform to advance the civil rights movement, targeting Jim Crow laws and improving opportunities for African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1968, as then-chairman of the House\u2019s education and labor committee, Powell returned to Colgate, and his lecture on \u201cBlack power and the white establishment\u201d earned a standing ovation in Memorial Chapel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Powell passed away in 1972, but his contributions endure: In Upper Manhattan, Seventh Avenue is also called Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, and Harlem\u2019s State Office bears his name. At Colgate, the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. \u201930 Award was established in 1993 to recognize seniors who have made \u201coutstanding contributions to Colgate and \u2026 enriched the cultural and social lives of students of color.\u201d In the western New York village of Lakewood, Richard O. Hartley Memorial Park is a favorite gathering spot for locals and visitors alike \u2014 but few know the story behind its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost people of his generation have passed away, so not a lot of folks in this area remember Richard,\u201d says Linda Voltmann \u201978 Swanson. \u201cWhich is a real shame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Swanson, Richard O. Hartley, Class of 1925, was the \u201ckindest, most lovely person,\u201d and his eponymous park is a fitting tribute to the man who loved children, his community, and his alma mater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swanson met Hartley in the mid-1980s, when she and her late husband, Randall Swanson \u201975 \u2014 then new parents to daughter Christine \u201906 \u2014 moved to Lakewood, a small village on the shore of Chautauqua Lake, where Hartley was a village trustee. The Swansons came to know Hartley as an ever-present fixture and volunteer at community events, the local library, and Christine\u2019s elementary school, where Hartley would, according to his May 1996 obituary, \u201cassist pupils in assignments and follow their progress through high school, college, and careers, often sending them congratulatory letters for their accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christine remembers his jovial presence in her fourth-grade classroom \u2014 and his signature driving cap and scarf.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cHe was like everyone\u2019s grandpa,\u201d she says. \u201cThis little old man with a big personality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hartley was steadfast in his dedication to Colgate, as well, volunteering as an admission representative for the Jamestown-Lakewood area. He returned to campus each year for reunions, and soon began carpooling from Lakewood to Hamilton with the Swansons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of Linda\u2019s fondest memories of Hartley were from those car trips. While munching on roasted peanuts, Hartley would regale the family with tales of his Colgate days, his time in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War II, and the challenges of finding work as a chemist during the Great Depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1992 the village of Lakewood recognized Hartley\u2019s contributions by renaming the local park in his honor. When his wife, Frances, passed away in 1993, Hartley donated the proceeds from her insurance to the project, funding the construction of a gazebo and a beach house. Since then, and after his death in 1996, Richard O. Hartley Memorial Park has seen numerous additions and improvements, including the 2022 construction of a handicap-accessible play area that \u201cwould have really pleased Richard,\u201d says Linda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To honor their late friend, Linda and Christine tend the rose garden in Hartley Park \u2014 an effort that feels especially meaningful this spring, says Linda, on the 100th anniversary of Hartley\u2019s graduation from Colgate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRichard was the archetype of what a Colgate graduate should be,\u201d she adds. \u201cHe was a genuinely kind and unassuming person who pulled the weight of 10 people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For his dedication and loyalty to Colgate, Hartley was awarded the Maroon Citation at his 65th Reunion in May 1990. <\/strong> Famed NFL linesman Wayne Mackie\u2019s legacy lives on in his beloved Brooklyn neighborhood \u2014 and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born and raised in Brooklyn\u2019s Linden Houses, Mackie \u201982 was a skilled athlete, but when a knee injury as a teenager curtailed his future in football, he shifted his attention to officiating. His career evolved from high school sports to the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference, Big East, and, eventually, the NFL, where he became known to players and coaches as one of the league\u2019s most accurate \u2014 and most respected \u2014 linesmen. By 2016 he reached the pinnacle, serving as head official at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mackie, who passed away in 2022, was honored in fall 2024 when a street outside the Linden Houses was co-named \u201cWayne Mackie Way\u201d in recognition of his career achievements and his dedication to the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Said City Councilman Chris Banks, who sponsored the co-naming: \u201cCommemorating Wayne Mackie\u2019s legacy by co-naming the street where he grew up is the least we can do to recognize the profound impact and positive influence that Wayne Mackie had on those from the 42nd Council District.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Colgate, Mackie played baseball and basketball and hosted a funk and rap show on WRCU. One of \u201cDJ Funky Mack\u2019s\u201d favorite tracks: \u201cCelebration\u201d by Kool and the Gang.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From streets to scientific items \u2014 these are examples of things named after Colgate people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1279,"featured_media":17146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-17127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-4sf","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/NamesFinal2-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17127"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17557,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17127\/revisions\/17557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17127"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n\n\n\nA Piece of the Molecular Puzzle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA (Microscopic) Window Into the Future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nBreaking Barriers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nA Community Hub With an Unforgettable Benefactor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s Official<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n