Assistant professor of
biology Sarah Bacon '87 is enthusiastic about her work, to say the
least. Sitting in her office in Clapp Lab, surrounded by slides and
pictures of developing embryos, Bacon is more than happy to describe
her interest in reproductive physiology, and readily admits that she
often loses track of time when talking about her research. 
Sarah Bacon '87, Clare Boothe Luce
Assistant Professor of Biology, is fascinated by the relationship
between mother and fetus during pregnancy.
Bacon is fascinated by the
relationship between mother and fetus during pregnancy. "What I'm
really interested in is fertility and miscarriage," she says. "Eighty
percent of what humans conceive is lost before birth." Bacon says
that most pregnancies end before a woman even knows she's pregnant.
She's trying to find out why by studying reproduction in rats, which
have very similar pregnancies to humans. Bacon also studies the ways
in which mother and fetus communicate through the placenta. "It's so
powerful, such an enigma," she says. "There's no other relationship
that is that physiologically intimate."
Bacon's passion for science is
contagious to her students. Whether they are conducting studies on
human pheromones (chemical substances produced by animals that serve
as stimului to other individuals of the same species for one or more
behavioral responses), exploring the ways in which rats communicate,
or examining the structure of milk, Bacon's students seem excited
about what they are learning.
"You can tell that she loves what she
does," says biology major Deirdre Lyons '02 of Bacon. "And that makes
you love it too." Alson Burke '00 is a teaching assistant for Biology
151. "She's super energetic," Burke says. "And she really shows she
cares about her students." Melani Cheers '02, a biology/anthropology
major, says Bacon has opened up a new area of interest for her.
"Sarah has introduced me to a section of biology that I never
considered studying," she says. "I now find animal physiology very
interesting."
After graduating from MHC, Bacon went
on to earn a Ph.D. in organismal biology at the University of
Chicago; after a one-year post doctoral research fellowship at
Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, she returned to Mount
Holyoke as Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Biology in 1998.
Bacon credits her undergraduate
education with having a positive impact on her career. "There is an
important way in which being here shaped how I went about my
research," she says. "I consciously sought out female mentors, and it
worked out very well for me." She chose a female adviser at the
University of Chicago, who "modeled family life in combination with
professional life in a way I did not see men doing," Bacon remembers.
"I learned a huge amount from her." Bacon says the caring attention
she was given by her professors at MHC also made a difference. "It
can make you realize you have potentials that maybe you didn't
suspect," she says. "There are people in this department who did that
for me, and now I get to teach with them."
At the time Bacon was hired to teach
here, her graduate school adviser reminded her of something she had
told her years ago. "When I started my graduate work she asked me
what I wanted to do with my Ph.D.," Bacon recalls. "And I said I
would like to teach at a college like the one where I got my
undergraduate degree." As she looks forward to many more years of
teaching and promising research here, Sarah Bacon seems quite happy
to have landed back at her alma mater.
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