37 South College Avenue
Saint Joseph, MN 56374
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Sunday Poster Session

Biology

A Genetic Screen for Spermatogenesis Mutants in C. elegans

            Kara Thoemke, College of St. Scholastica

Mutations affecting Caenorhabditis elegans spermatogenesis can be used to study the process of spermatozoan morphological maturation. In a genetic screen for new mutants that are sterile due to defective gametogenesis, eighteen candidate mutants were identified.  These candidate mutants were placed in one of two classes: 1) mutations resulting in self-sterile hermaphrodites or 2) temperature-sensitive mutations resulting in impaired fertility at 15  C or sterility when raised at 25  C. Mutations will be genetically mapped to a chromosomal location using standard three-point crosses and snp mapping.  Mutations found to represent previously undefined genes will be phenotypically characterized to determine the cause of defective gametogenesis.  The ultimate goal of this project is to identify new genes involved in spermatogenesis and to identify the cellular and molecular interactions that lead to sperm-egg recognition, binding and fusion in C. elegans.

Diversity, Distribution, and Chemistry of Crystals Produced in Idioblast Cells of the Tropical Plant Dieffenbachia

            Gary Coté, Radford University

Many plants develop unusual crystal-containing cells, termed crystal idioblasts.  The physiological roles of crystal idioblasts are not completely understood, but may include protection from herbivores.  We systematically examined the crystal idioblasts in the tropical aroid Dieffenbachia.   Tissue samples cleared of pigments were examined under the microscope.  At least five kinds of crystal idioblasts are present in the plant.  Crystals are found in stems, leaves, roots, and flowers.  Crystals are present in young leaf buds even before they have emerged from the stem.  Acid solubility properties indicate that the crystals are composed of calcium oxalate.  Supported by the Radford University Foundation and the Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust.

Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research at a Small Liberal Arts College

            Jennifer Maki, The College of St. Scholastica

     At a small liberal arts college with limited resources and the majority of students interested in pursuing medical rather than graduate school, my undergraduate research program has managed to attract nine undergraduates in only three years.  The primary goal of this program is to advocate for research experiences in an environment where the majority of students have never considered graduate school as an option.

     Carbohydrate oxidase enzyme activity has been identified in several plant samples from The College of St. Scholastica greenhouse.  This enzyme functions as part of a plant defense system against bacterial infection.  Our laboratory is working to purify and characterize the carbohydrate oxidase enzyme from multiple plant sources.  In doing so, techniques of biochemistry, molecular biology and bioinformatics will be employed.  This presentation will include the recent data collected, a plan for obtaining future external funding, and strategy for collaboration with a neighboring institution.

Promoting Leadership and Collaboration Through Undergraduate Research

            Cosette Hardwick, and Evelyn Brooks, Missouri Western State University

In anticipation of severe shortages of health care professionals by 2020, promoting health care careers to high school students through the development of modules that incorporated course level expectations with job activities was the stimulus for the development of a research project conducted by five senior community health nursing students.  The students participated from focus group to presentation of research results.  The responsibility of literature review, supervising thirty-five classmates in the development of problem-based and curriculum integrated activities, collaborating with classroom teachers and health care professionals, and presenting a module to a class of high school students culminated in results that demonstrated a statistically significant increase in high school student interest in health care careers and in understanding the relationship of classroom instruction to future job skills.  This research was supported by a grant from the Northwest Missouri Area Health Education Center.

Purification and Characterization of Taq Polymerase: A Biochemistry Lab Series Developed to Prepare Students For Successful Undergraduate Research Experiences

            Robert Bellin, College of the Holy Cross and  Mary Bruno, University of Connecticut

We have developed a 9-week lab series focused on the purification and characterization of Taq polymerase.  Our aim was to provide undergraduate biochemistry students with a full-semester project simulating a research-like experience, while having each week's procedure focus on a single learning goal. The lab series has been taught for the past six years, and assessment of the lab series was completed during the past two semesters. Analysis of the assessment results demonstrate that the lab series is effective at teaching students the theory and practice of protein purification and analysis while also demonstrating positive results in more broad areas of scientific skill and knowledge. Students who have completed this series are well prepared to conduct independent undergraduate research, and thus, this lab has proven to be an effective component in the curricula of our undergraduate biology and chemistry majors, the majority of whom continue on participate in undergraduate research.

The University of Wyoming – Wyoming Community College INBRE Collaboration: Creating a Statewide Pipeline to Education and Careers in the Biomedical Sciences.

            Robert Seville, University of Wyoming and Bud Chew, Western Wyoming College

As part of the NIH funded University of Wyoming (UW) Idea Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence program UW and 5 Wyoming Community Colleges have developed a “pipeline” to guide promising freshman and sophomore students into baccalaureate programs in biomedicine.  Research programs have been established at each participating community college (CC) to provide hands on experience for students.  Junior-level life science courses have been developed for distance delivery to allow CC students access to upper-level coursework. A videoconference seminar series provides interaction between college and university students, faculty and visiting researchers.  A videoconference system has been constructed for the primary purpose of serving the pipeline and supporting biomedically related courses, seminars, and meetings. An annual retreat brings together CC faculty and students with UW participants. Last, a transition scholarship program provides support for selected CC students to move to UW to pursue baccalaureate degrees and research experience in biomedically related programs.

THI73 dependent function of the G1 Cyclin Cln3 in S. cerevisiae

            Mary Miller and Jacquelyn G. Hancock, Rhodes College

The cell cycle is the highly regulated process by which a cell grows, replicates, and divides into two identical cells.  In the budding yeast S. cerevisiae, cell cycle initiation in the Growth 1 (G1) phase requires the G1 cyclin, Cln3.  Cln3 binds and activates the cyclin-dependent kinase and functions to support cell cycle progression by allowing the transcription of certain necessary genes.  Study of the Cln3 pathway in yeast is of particular interest due to its functional similarity to the Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor pathway in mammalian cells.  Our work has identified cellular genes important for Cln3 function, and we work to establish the mechanism by which these genes support Cln3 activity using genetic approaches in the budding yeast model system.  These studies are carried out exclusively by undergraduate students, and this poster will specifically demonstrate the level of engagement that is possible by a first-second year undergraduate researcher.

Chemistry

A Paradigm for Pharmaceutical Research in Undergraduate Laboratories

John Williams, Rhode Island College

We are engaged in a project on the toxicology of arylphoshonium salts. They are generally cyctotoxic, but are selectively taken up by mitochondria of malignant cells. One such compound prepared elsewhere made it to clinical trials for ovarian cancer. The compounds inhibit acetylcholinesterase, are bactericidal, and bind DNA in vitro.  All toxicities show strong SAR's. Our methodology mimics that of drug discovery and development in the pharmacology industry. Synthesis is done in five or fewer chemical reactions using readily available reagents. The target scaffold provides for facile modification. Kirby-Bauer bacteriostatic testing is the initial toxicity screen and is followed by a cell culture screen; e.g. Hep-2G cells. Other cell screens are then done to identify off-target toxicity. LD50 ‘s have been determined in mice. We do computational DNA-binding calculations, are developing an AchE active site computational model to predict inhibition, and do QSAR on potential and actual synthesis targets.

A Year-long Research-oriented Biochemistry Laboratory to Promote Critical Skills Increase Confidence and Inspire an Enthusiasm for the Bench.

            Joseph Provost, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Training new scientists requires a strong emphasis on creating a student-learning environment and focuses on research-based exercises. This project integrates research-based teaching into two semesters of biochemistry laboratories. The first semester focuses on using a single protein in the context of a semester-long research project to drive student learning. In this semester, students will begin to make their own decisions and design their own experiments.  In the second semester students are empowered to design, execute and analyze their experiments. The concept is to allow each group to work as independent research groups all working on a similar set of genes or proteins  replacing a variety of shorter labs in favor of an in-depth research experience.  The outcome of this style of research-oriented laboratory is a student that is much more confident and skilled in critical areas in biochemistry and molecular biology. NSF CCLI DUE 0511629

Alkynoic acid cyclization

Thomas Jones, College of St. Benedict

In 1957 Ferrier and Tedder reported the cyclization of 5-hexynoic acid with trifluoroacetic anhydride yielding 1,3-Cyclohexadione in 25%. We have prepared a variety of vinylagous esters using a new variation of the Ferrier and Tedder method. In our case 5-hexynoic acid was converted to 5-hexynoyl chloride and subsequently cyclized using a lewis acid. A variety of vinylagous esters were prepared by using alcohols to trap the proposed vinyl cation intermediate. Using this new method 3-ethoxycyclohexen-2-one was prepared in 77% yield using Indium (III) Chloride as the Lewis acid reagent.

An Independent Study Project for Freshmen and Sophomores:  Monitoring Ground Level Ozone in Newton County, GA

            Jack Eichler, Oxford College of Emory Univesity

Designing an independent research project that is suitable for freshmen or sophomores often poses a difficult challenge.  Given that Oxford College only has students for the first two years of their four year undergraduate education, we have an even higher demand for involving young students in independent study and research.  This poster summarizes a project that was carried out by second-year students who had previously taken general chemistry.  The students used an iodometric assay to measure ground level ozone in Newton County, GA.  This detection protocol allows the students to apply a variety of general chemistry concepts, including stoichiometry, gas laws, oxidation-reduction reactions, and concentrations and dilutions of aqueous solutions.  The students were also required to do background research regarding the sources of ground level ozone and its impact on the local community.  The experimental methods used by the students and the initial ground level ozone data will be reported.

An Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Course in Computational and Theoretical Chemistry

            Scott McKay, University of Central Missouri

With the technological advancements over the past dozen years computational techniques have flourished in all areas of chemical and scientific research and education. Chemical systems can now be studied on desktop workstations with methods that allow for quality calculations that could only be dreamed of a few years ago.  Theoretical work is expected and common place in many areas of chemical research ranging from pharmaceuticals to materials science. Chemistry as well as other physical sciences can benefit from supplementing their research efforts with sound computational investigations.

Chemistry and the Coffee Crisis: an International Undergraduate Research Program with Nicaraguan Farmers

            Susan Jackels, Seattle University and Charles F. Jackels, Computing and Software Systems Program, University of Washington,  Bothell

This paper describes a five-year, applied, field and laboratory science project that has involved significant exchange of faculty and undergraduate students from Seattle University (SU), the University of Washington Bothell (UWB), and the University of Central America Managua (UCA). 

The authors will discuss how scientists can put their research in service to small-scale, impoverished Nicaraguan coffee producers, in work that has included field investigations of coffee bean fermentation processing on remote farms, controlled fermentation experiments in a mobile laboratory on a model farm, establishment of an analytical laboratory at UCA to serve the small-scale coffee producing community, and recently, design of a coffee processing mill for a remote community.  Included will be the conceptual, logistical, funding, and scientific aspects of conducting undergraduate research abroad with exchange teams that have included eight science and engineering students from the United States and six from Nicaragua, as well as faculty from three universities. 

Developing an Undergraduate Capstone Course

            Scott McKay, University of Central Missouri

Undergraduate research has been well documented for providing opportunities for problem solving, critical thinking, and technical skills development.  However, these experiences can be uneven and emphasize some skills and opportunities more than others. The areas of ethics and professional development can often be marginalized.  With the implementation of this course the chemistry major should be well versed in the full complement of communication skills, career development and ancillary opportunities.

Evidence for Enantiometric Selectivity in a Luminescent Extended Linear Chain Vapochromic Material that Responds to Volatile Organic Compounds

            Steven Drew, Carleton College

An extended linear chain (ELC) material composed of alternating repeating units of platinum(II) tetrakis-beta-methylphenethylisonitrile dication and tetracyanoplatinate dianion has been synthesized.  The dication of this double salt ELC material was synthesized as both an enriched R and an enriched S enantiomer.  These platinum double salt materials are of interest as potential crystalline vapor sensors because they are porous and their intense solid-state color and luminescence can be modulated by exposure to various volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).  Data describing the synthesis, characterization, and response on these materials to VOC’s will be presented including a principle component analysis of the R- and S-2-butanol exposure data that is evidence these materials are enantiometrically selective.

Frontiers in Nickel Chemistry Involving Phosphorus, Cysteine, and Hydrogen

            Patrick Desrochers, University of Central Arkansas

The coordination chemistry of nickel with cysteine, borohydride, and ammonia is controllable using ancillary phosphorus- and nitrogen-donor chelates.  NMR results will describe fluxional phosphine-nickel-cysteine coordination spheres and the role of pi overlap in directing the scrambling process.  The acid/base chemistry of a nickel-cysteine thiolate is also described, including evidence for an elusive nickel-cysteine thiol.  Nitrogen-donor chelates like TpR and TmR (TpR = trispyrazolylborates; TmR = trispyrazolylmethanes) enable the isolation of stable nickel adducts of ammonia and borohydride.  Theoretical efforts to model bonding in TpRNiBH4 will be presented, supported by magnetic resonance, infrared, and electronic spectroscopic measurements.  Most recently this laboratory established the formation of a single-TmR nickel(II) adduct.  TmR is a synthetically useful form of trispyrazolyl ligands for future work where this ligand system is anchored to heterogeneous polystyrene supports.  Student experiences leading to the above results present a window into the undergraduate research program in our department.

Incorporating Undergraduates into Faculty Research in the Areas of Optics and Physical Chemistry

            Michael Jackson, Central Washington University

Over the past ten years, the authors have set up several experimental systems as part of their research.  These include a multi-laser system for the measurement of far-infrared laser frequencies and a laser magnetic resonance spectrometer system to investigate free radicals.  Funding for these projects was primarily from the National Science Foundation with supplemental support provided by the American Chemical Society and Research Corporation. 

As the experimental systems became operational, numerous undergraduates were involved in these research activities at a variety of levels.  Their participation was either part of a formal undergraduate research course or through a paid internship/research fellowship.  In this presentation, we will discuss the various roles undergraduates had in participating on these research projects along with their final results.

Inorganic Chemistry in the Integrated Teaching-Research Laboratory

            Joseph Fritsch, Pepperdine University

Investigations from the teaching and research laboratories have been melded to provide students in our inorganic chemistry curriculum with integrated chemistry experiences.  The results of four undergraduate researchers will be presented.  In the research laboratory, new fluorescent aluminum pyridinylpyrrole complexes were prepared with traditional inorganic chemistry techniques yielding a surprising result.  Ketoiminates with pendant nitrogen donors have been employed to synthesize magnesium and zinc complexes that may act as environmentally-friendly catalysts for making biodegradable polymers.  The teaching laboratory has been blended with research through the development of integrated laboratory modules.  These give the student a quasi-research experience as multiple techniques and concepts from the chemistry curriculum are drawn together.  One such experience incorporates kinetics, environmental contaminants, catalysis, and inorganic chemistry as applied to the aqueous phase reductive dechlorination of perchloroethylene with vitamin B12.  In separate work, the photochemically-induced changes to iron arene complexes have been monitored with absorbance spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques.

Laying the Foundation for Undergraduate Research; The Use of Guided-Inquiry Organic Chemistry Experiments

            Jerry Mohrig, Carleton College

The chasm between the formal curriculum and undergraduate research can be bridged by using guided-inquiry laboratory experiments and projects in lower-division science courses. The question-driven, guided-inquiry approach requires students to become engaged in evaluating their experimental data to answer a question posed by the experiment, in an environment where they can succeed. Often, students work in two-person teams and present their data and its interpretation to the entire lab section in a post-lab discussion. All of these activities are an excellent preliminary taste of the research process. They give students a better idea of what research is about and they whet their appetites for it. The poster will feature a new three-week, guided-inquiry lab project on the synthesis and hydrogenation of a disubstituted chalcone, where there is the possibility that a number of functional groups could be reduced.

Modeling Multicopper Oxidase Active Sites using a triazole-substituted 1,3,5-triethylbenzene

            Brian Johnson, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University

Multicopper oxidases, such as ascorbate oxidase, laccase and ceruloplasmin, couple the four electron reduction of oxygen to the oxidation of substrate molecules. All multicopper oxidases contain an unusual triangular array of copper atoms at the active site. By using a triethylbenzene system to provide facial control, we have synthesized ligand 1 containing triazole and pyridine ring systems to model this active site. Ligand 1 reacts with copper(I) to form a stable complex and the complex has been shown to react with oxygen. This work will discuss the characterization data for this complex. Future work will determine the mode of oxygen binding and the outcome of the oxygenation reaction.

Purification, Properties, and Heteromeric Association of Type-1 and Type-2 Moth Farnesyl Diphosphate Synthases

Stephanie Sen, Gregory J. Roberts, Adrian Mimms and Thenesha Richard, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis

Two forms of farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPPS) from the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, and one from the armyworm Pseudaletia unipuncta, have been expressed in E. coli and characterized. The type-2 FPPS of C. fumiferana (CfFPPS2) was efficient in isoprenyl coupling; however, type-1 FPPS (CfFPPS1) was not. Under mild chromatographic conditions, the type-1 enzyme showed low activity.  Similarly, extracts of another type-1 FPPS, PuFPPS1, expressed in an E. coli FPPS-null mutant, was marginally active. However, when equimolar amounts of homogenous CfFPPS1 and CfFPP2 were combined, a sharp synergistic enhancement of activity was observed, and the coupling of several homologous substrates, which are precursors to ethyl-branched JHs, was enhanced.  Association between CfFPPS1 and CfFPPS2 was confirmed by both protein interaction chromatography and competitive ELISA. These data suggest that type-1 and type-2 FPPSs can form a heteromer, which may play a role in sesquiterpene biosynthesis, such as JH homologue formation, in moths. 

Synthesis of Novel Aminopolyols from Carbohydrates

            Norma Dunlap, Middle Tennessee State University

Enantiopure aminopolyols have a number of uses, including use as intermediates in organic synthesis and as chiral ligands for organometallic catalysis.  An efficient synthesis of both enantiomers of 4-aminobutane-1,2,3-triol is described,  using either D or L-glucose as the starting material. Nucleoside adducts of this amine are being used to study the toxicity of metabolites of the environmental toxin butadiene.  A key step in the synthesis is the one-pot conversion of an aldehyde to an amide, the scope of which has been extended to include other carbohydrate derived aldehydes. In addition, several novel dimeric aminopolyols have been prepared as potential ligands for organometallic catalysis.

The Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Dipyridyl Compounds: From literature to Space Group Determination a Quintessential Undergraduate Project.

            Scott McKay and Lincoln Maina, University of Central Missouri and Kraig Wheeler

Crystallographic determination, synthesis, spectroscopic, and physical evidence was used to shed light on inconsistent literature reports of the identity of 2,4’-bipyridine-N’-oxide. The student was carefully assisted through the literature inconsistencies and steps to remedy the error.  Several bipyridine N-oxides and N,N’-dioxides have been conveniently prepared using dimethyldiorxirane (DMD).  Unlike conventional hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacid oxidations, use of DMD to synthesize heterocyclic aromatic N-oxides offers the ease of product isolation and reaction solutions free of potentially dangerous peroxide intermediates.

Geosciences

Contrasts and Similarities in Water Quality Issues Facing East Central China and Northwest Indiana: Issues, Perceptions, and Approaches for Resolution, Part I: Water Quality Parameters

            Jonathan Schoer, Shelly Schmeltz and  Jeff Field, Valparaiso University, Sarah Mohlman, Utah State University.

Field and laboratory measurements of multiple parameters used to assess water quality were taken at twenty sites scattered throughout the city of Hangzhou, China and the surrounding region as part of a collaborative research project between Zhejiang University and Valparaiso University.  The measurements provided a snapshot of the water quality in east central China.  Elevated nutrient (P and N) levels in many sites led to increased plant growth, high dissolved oxygen levels and, in one case (Taihu Lake), a severe algal bloom.  Copper, mercury and cadmium levels were also elevated at several sites. Overall, nonpoint source pollution from domestic waste and agricultural runoff remain threats to water quality.  In general, water quality in the Hangzhou area was poorer than that in NW Indiana, but was still within US EPA limits.

Contrasts and Similarities in Water Quality Issues Facing East Central China and Northwest Indiana: Issues, Perceptions, and Approaches for Resolution, Part II: Interviews

            Jonathan Schoer, Shelly Schmeltz and  Jeff Field, Valparaiso University, Sarah Mohlman, Utah State University.

We met with Chinese water quality experts and spoke with a limited number of citizens in order to assess perceptions of water quality, to evaluate local land use impacts on the watershed, and to learn about current and future solutions being implemented in China for better water resource management. Interviews in China revealed varying levels of water quality, accountability for polluters, and management methods. Most citizens only drank tap water if boiled first, but nearly half said they were unconcerned about water quality. Correcting domestic water contamination from nitrogen and phosphorous from agriculture was a top priority, along with monitoring industrial waste pollution. In Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, citizens were most concerned with the lack of public awareness, poor wastewater treatment, and industrial accountability. They often felt water quality could be improved, but did not feel their health was at risk.

Preconcentration and Determination of Molybdenum in the Rouge River with Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

            Ali Bazzi, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Molybdenum is considered an essential element, and its occurrence in natural water is of interest from environmental and biochemical viewpoints.   This paper reports results on the preconcentration and determination of molybdenum in the Rouge River, which runs through our campus.  Its ecosystem is an active medium for teaching and research at our institution. The molybdenum from the water samples was preconcentrated on Bio-Rad Chelex 100 mesh resin, then eluted with ammonia solution.  Using the standard addition approach, the absorbance of molybdenum was measured employing the molybdenum resonance line at 313.3 nm with a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer.  The results from three sites yielded molybdenum concentrations ranging from 2.00 to 3.41 parts per billion (ppb).   The precision of the method, based on quintuplet analyses from each sampling site, ranged from 6.03 to 8.16 % RSD. Sample preparation was completed using ultra-trace analysis methodology in a clean room laboratory.

Successes of the Badlands Working Group at SRU for Early Undergraduates

            Patrick Burkhart, Slippery Rock University, Geology

The Badlands Working Group at Slippery Rock University immerses undergraduates into multidisciplinary research that becomes a pivotal experience in selecting a major or charting a career.  The group has a fine track record with proposing research, securing funding, safe expeditions, subsequent investigations, and disseminating outcomes.  BWG alumni regularly achieve success including graduate studies and research recognitions. Several aspects of our initiative poise these successes, particularly peer-mentoring. BWG alumni have consistently returned as veterans to mentor younger students.  Veterans lead by example and direct oversight.  Novices report that engagement with research is less intimidating when a peer provides guidance because there are fewer social barriers and a narrower knowledge gap that that between students and faculty.  Often times, issues involving health concerns, personality conflicts, and camp logistics are expediently resolved by this less threatening relationship, while group moral is better maintained overall when faculty guidance is less regularly required.

Humanities

Original Research In An Intro Art History Class:  Can It Work At All?

            Amelia Trevelyan, University of North Carolina, Pembroke

It has been clearly demonstrated that the hands-on, investigative nature of original research is one of the best ways to engage and enhance student learning and foster excitement about the discipline .  So, why not design an introductory class on that basis?  Trying to develop a similar level of engagement and excellence in an intro course is certainly more daunting. There are the obvious problems, including uneven academic ability and degree of interest in the project, as well as severe limitations in expertise.  Still, seemed worth the attempt.

This session will discuss the processes and results of introducing an entire class to the joys and challenges of original research.  A second stage of the project utilized the research done by the entire class to engage an outstanding student in more sophisticated synthesis of the results and the production of substantial written results as well as an exhibition.

The Importance and Distinction of Humanities-Based Research

            Carrie Taylor Kemp,The College of St. Scholastica

The common belief that research is one of the most important facets of undergraduate preparation for advanced degree admission is also true in the humanities. An inquiry-driven pedagogical approach should be employed in undergraduate research for the humanities. Based on the assumption that much of the inquiry and exploration for their research is both multi-disciplinary and often stems from broadly-defined academic experiences, it is necessary to encourage students to rely on the knowledge that not only validates but also shapes the nature of their research.

An undergraduate research program at a small liberal arts college over the course of several years had 37 undergraduate students participate in humanities-based research, and each project was comprised of the following: multi-disciplinary inspiration or application; additional experience or learning that took place outside of the traditional classroom; and limited mentoring from the faculty member. These factors define the success and distinction of humanities-based research.

Physics

Experimental Progress on Simultaneous K and Cs trapping

            Marin Pichler, Goucher College,

We report on progress towards simultaneous cooling and trapping of K and Cs atoms with the objective to produce ultracold KCs molecules. Our systems consists of separate lasers for cooling and repumping transitions for both species and a simple locking scheme. A tapered laser amplifier for K cooling is currently being built. We present the photoassociation and resonant multi-photon detection schemes, and discuss possible applications.

SURES:  Summer Undergraduate Research in Energy Studies

            Sheila Pedigo, Case Western Reserve University

SURES is an educational and professional development program exposing undergraduate students to cutting-edge research in energy related topics while introducing them to the broad area of energy research.  In addition to their research projects, students attend a weekly lunch seminar series featuring industry professions and faculty speakers.  The weekly seminars engages students, staff, faculty, and community members in discussion and debate of energy issues, as well as provide students exposure to technological and policy driven solutions.  2008 marks the third summer for the program.  Information about the program and its funding will be provided on the poster.

Psychology

C-NERVE (Cognitive Neuroscience Education and Research-Valued Experience)

            Richard Tafalla, Desiree Budd, Michael Donnelly, and Ann Parsons, University of Wisconsin – Stout

C-NERVE (Cognitive Neuroscience Education and Research-Valued Experience) is a three-year, laboratory-based program funded by the National Science Foundation.  It is designed to provide University of Wisconsin-Stout undergraduates education in cognitive neuroscience through hands-on experiences with psychophysiological technologies and methods used to study brain-behavior relations.  Students complete five core courses that use digitally enhanced, hands-on lab activities.  Students serve one semester as a research assistant in each of four different faculty research labs.  They carry out a senior research project using psychophysiological measures and are assigned a C-NERVE advisor.  Finally, members take part in a number of additional activities integrating them as a group into a cohesive learning community, such as bi-monthly meetings, field trips to laboratories conducting cognitive neuroscience research and trips to national and regional conferences.   This poster will inform attendees on C-NERVE and describe outcome assessment data.

Creating Context: Linking Research Methods with a Content Course

            Pamela Bacon, College of St. Benedict/ St. John's University

Psychology students are often encouraged to complete research methods early on in their career because it will help them understand the content courses they will take as juniors and seniors.  Thus, many research methods students enter the course having only taken introductory psychology and statistics, which may make research methods feel removed from their “real” psychology content classes.  One solution to this problem is to require concurrent registration in a research methods class and a content course.  In this poster I will discuss the logistics of linking these courses and students’ evaluations of the experience.  Data on the impact of the linked experience on students’ self-reported interest in undergraduate research will also be discussed.

Inquiry Learning Across all Years of the Undergraduate Experience

            Connie Varnhagen, University of Alberta

Students in all years of undergraduate education can benefit from research experiences.  In this interactive poster and display, I will describe ways to incorporate inquiry learning into freshman through senior courses in psychology and will show examples from actual student projects. I will display examples from students in large introductory classes applying their new understanding to solving problems, such as helping a parent understand their child’s letter reversals in beginning writing, and creating resources based on psychological principles, such as designing a Christmas Web site that people with red-green colorblindness may enjoy.  I will also display examples from students in capstone courses translating science to a lay audience, such as producing a public service announcement on children’s stress, and developing educational resources, such as games to help children learn to stay safe on the Web.

Psi Chi Support for Undergraduate Research

            Ngoc Bui, Psi Chi National Honor Society

Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, provides over $250,000 per year in support for research by undergraduate students. This poster highlights these funding opportunities.

Starting a Psi Chi Chapter on Your Campus

            Ngoc Bui, Psi Chi National Honor Society

To be eligible for over $250,000 of research support provided by Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, undergraduate students must be members of chapters at their home institutions. Although over 1100 institutions have Psi Chi chapters, some still do not. This poster explains the process of establishing a Psi Chi chapter.

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Student Research and Conference Presentations

            Rebecca Hendrix and Alisha Francis, Northwest Missouri State University

Students gain several skills through research: critical thinking, research design, and result analysis/interpretation. Such involvement leads to opportunities for professional presentation communication and development. The current project used online surveys to ask 61 students and faculty about these goals related to student conference presentations. Students perceived research design as positively related to critical thinking, r(30) = .596, p = .000, analysis/interpretation, r(30) = .443, p = .011, communication, r(29) = .371, p = .04, and professional development, r(29) = .600, p = .000. Professional development was related to critical thinking, r(29) = .600, p = .00 and communication, r(28) = .457, p = .011. Finally, analysis/interpretation was related to communication, r(29) = .433, p = .015. Faculty positively related critical thinking analysis/interpretation, r(12) = .602, p = .023. Additionally, professional development was related to analysis/interpretation, r(11) = .684, p = .01, and communication, r(11) = .708, p = .007.

Transformational Pedagogy of Grief Models Through Electronic Communication Technologies

            Angela Knight, Lauren Winston, James Stafford, and  Todd Shifflett, University of Central Oklahoma

Higher education and grief education is experiencing a surprising new trend of transformative or transformational learning. Taken largely from seminal work, transformational learning (Meizrow 1981) involves putting students at the center of their education. In grief education current models tend to be one-size-fits all. There is not a “normal” representation of grief that can fit all interpretations. To rectify the teaching of grief models, we have incorporated current electronic communication technologies bereavement in the classroom so that students can link general models with individual experience. Participants are students who will develop a MySpace page that either reflects the student’s own experience with grief or reflects grief in general. The pages will include images, text, and sounds. Analyses will include qualitative assessments and quantitative assessments. Expected results, based upon an informal pilot in 2007, are that students demonstrate both interdisciplinary understanding of grief as well as superior understanding of traditional theories.

Using Focus Groups to Asssess Early Childhood Literacy Efforts

Evelyn Brooks, Missouri Western State University

It is estimated ½ of children of working mothers In Missouri are cared for in unlicensed, unregulated childcare settings. This project was designed to evaluate early learning opportunities (ELO) for literacy in childcare facilities.  This project  provided an opportunity for senior research students to evaluate the five outcomes through focus groups (6-8 participants) conducted throughout the 15 month project.  Qualitative analysis revealed three major themes:  Recognized benefits, identified challenges, and future opportunities for parents, childcare providers and community partners.  The findings highlight the role of  education and research in the community as well as specific benefits for children and childcare providers.  An increased child development facilitation, enhanced parent resources, and improved coordination of early learning programs and healthcare was noted.  Community partners were identified to enhance future involvement in early learning.  This was funded by Enrichment Through Investment, ELO Act Discretionary Grant from the USDHHS  to SuccessBy6 Council United Way.

Social Sciences

Evaluating the Practice of Deliberative Democracy

            William Ball, The College of New Jersey

This poster reports on a project that combines undergraduate research and community engagement. I have been working with teams of undergraduates for the past six years to organize and host public deliberative forums as form of community engagement. More recently, research positions for students have been added to assess the effectiveness of these forums in accomplishing their goals. The project is embedded in coursework, internally funded summer research positions, and a national research network with foundation funding.  Students get to experience both the practice of, and engage in research on, deliberation as a form of political communication. This both connects practice in the community with disciplinary learning and allows them to wrestle with important questions about the potential biases and other pitfalls of evaluating one's own work.

Undergraduate Research Program Directors

Summers at MU:  A centralized approach for multiple REUs

            Linda Blockus, University of Missouri-Columbia

Each summer at the University of Missouri the Office of Undergraduate Research coordinates 3 REU programs, plus about 7 other programs ranging from 2-30 students.  This poster will describe how the various programs are coordinated out of one office which results in logistical efficiencies as well as building a critical mass for activities.  The poster will describe social and educational activities that are organized for the whole group, as well as specialty discussions for focused research programs.

The EXPRESS Program at Missouri:  Research Exposure for Freshmen and Sophomores

            Linda Blockus, University of Missouri-Columbia

This poster will describe the elements of Missouri's successful EXPRESS program for freshmen and sophomore minority students.  Students work 10 hrs/week in a faculty research lab, attend weekly group meetings and met regularly with a peer mentor.  The program has increased the number of minority students participating in life sciences research projects as upperclassmen.  The program provides hourly wages for the students and helps to introduce them to research opportunities.

Monday Poster Session

Assessment of Research Outcomes

Assessing Learning Outcomes in a Writing Intensive Interdisciplinary Introduction to Research Class

            Glena Temple, and Jennifer Sadowski, Viterbo University

Our three-credit Introduction to Research course is the first course in a three-course research series, required for the majority of science majors in the fall of their junior year. This interdisciplinary course has biochemistry, biology, biopsychology, chemistry and natural science majors enrolled.  The focus of the course is on students writing and defending a research proposal under the guidance of a research mentor, which will lead to a research project in the next semester or summer for 80% of the students.  In addition, this course discusses research ethics, analysis of primary literature, and career opportunities in research.  Our evaluation of learning outcomes related to research in the sciences indicated senior students attribute many of their overall research learning outcomes to this course, even more so than compared to the research experience itself.  We will present our evaluation methods and results in this poster.

Georgia Tech’s Research Option: A Long-term, Thesis-based Research Program for Undergraduates

            Karen Harwell, Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech, as part of its Quality Enhancement Plan, created a new degree option—Research Option—which highlights a long-term undergraduate research experience culminating in a thesis.  Research Option students are required to complete a research proposal, at least nine credit hours of research, the newly developed multi-disciplinary course Writing an Undergraduate Research Thesis, and a final research thesis.  The proposal includes a literature review, discussion of the research’s purpose, and a set of research targets.

Assessment tools are under development to assess the writing and communication aspect of each individual student’s progress including a set of writing evaluation metrics.  At the department level, quality is managed through the discipline-specific approval of both the research proposal and final thesis.

The author will discuss program elements and requirements, student feedback on the program, and additional assessment of the quality of student work produced under the option. 

Rhode Island College Efforts to Expand Faculty-Mentored Research

            Karen Almeida, Rebeka Merson, and Sarah Spinette, Rhode Island College

The volume of faculty and students engaged in collaborative research at Rhode Island College, a predominantly undergraduate institution, has dramatically increased in recent years. In order to sustain and expand undergraduate research, faculty require tools to implement and assess research programs.  Three new faculty members collaborate to design a series of activities and assessments based on the skills required for the practice of science with the goal of broadening students’ laboratory skills, increasing knowledge transfer, and encouraging peer interactions. We present a variety of activities, focusing mainly on the collaborative nature of our program, such as joint group meetings, communications assessments and a standardized lab practicum. The ultimate goal is increased quality and quantity of faculty-mentored research by streamlining the training process. We anticipate increased faculty participation in mentored research as a result of these tools and better preparedness of students for post-baccalaureate research positions and graduate school.

Beyond the Academy:  Real World Applications of Research Results

From Proposal to Publication: Engaging Students in Successful Research in the Community

            Carie Braun, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

From proposal to publication, this poster provides a model for engaging students to initiate and complete relevant research within practice disciplines. A complex study performed by nursing students examining animal-assisted therapy as a pain intervention for children is used to illustrate this practical collaborative model. The emphasis is on how to see longer-term studies to completion within a collaborative framework.

Research and Innovation: The Intersection of Research, Entrepreneurship and Real-World Projects

            Don Takehara and Mike Bates, Taylor University

The Center for Research & Innovation (CR&I) at Taylor University gives undergraduates the opportunity to make real-world application of research results through the generation of new companies and commercialization. Since 2004, the CR&I has assisted in transferring technology to student start-up companies.  Stratostar Systems leveraged Taylor’s high altitude balloon technology and created a business which provides access to near space opening possibilities for novel, low cost communications, measurement and data acquisition capability. Tiergen Technologies, is based on novel technology for producing high quality, low cost carbon nanotubes. In addition, the CR&I has brought real-life projects to students including an assessment of state-of-the-art technologies for an ethanol company, mathematical and experimental modeling for a company with innovative oil pumping technology, publishing a feasibility study for a community business incubator, and implementation and assessment of critical thinking curriculum at a local high school.  The CR&I is linking discovery with value-add societal benefits.

Early Involvement in Research

A Research Pipeline:  Introduction to Research

            Nancy Carpenter and Ted Pappenfus, University of Minnesota, Morris

A curriculum shift from quarters to semesters was the impetus for creation of the "Introduction to Research" (ItR) course at the University of Minnesota, Morris.  Not merely a research methods course, ItR first teaches the tools a chemistry or biochemistry major needs to make a successful entry into research, then provides an opportunity to apply this learning to research with a chemistry faculty member.  The evolution of the course over the past several years will be presented.

Cooperative Undergraduate Research between a University and a Community College: An Opportunity

            K. Scott Alberts, Truman State University

Few mechanisms exist to ease cooperation between a University and Community College. Since our research looks at differences in student attitude and learning between students at our institutions, we could use the research as a means to develop such cooperation beyond the actual research itself. The institutional strengths of each can be used to enhance the research experience for students from both institutions, as well as other students in our classes and the institutions as a whole.

It is not surprising that differences in mathematics anxiety factors exist between students at our institutions as does the way instructors react to such anxiety. Using student research, we have been able to learn more about these differences, and are starting to investigate ways to reduce the anxiety and improve mathematics performance.

Getting Introductory-Level Students Hands-on With Multimedia Technology for Research-Based Community Projects

            Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine

Students in an introductory Earth science course integrated multimedia technology with several research-based outreach activities.  The overarching goal of the projects was to provide students with experience using technology to share research results with the university and greater community.  One project required students to create an enhanced podcast and virtual tour in Google Earth to document Pennsylvania biodiversity at a local state park. Another project required students to use photos and iPods with microphones to electronically document and archive the 2007 Solar Decathlon in Google Earth.  A final project required students to create multimedia presentations to submit to the SCA/Mazda Conservation in Action competition that would promote behavioral change and suggest solutions towards environmental challenges.  Students reported a strong desire to use technology to share their work and to create and showcase future projects.

Impact of INBRE on Career Choices

            Pat Conway, Jennifer Wages, Linda Gunderson and Linda Harmon, University of North Dakota

This poster will present the results of North Dakota IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence’s (INBRE) demonstrating the impact that INBRE has on student career choices. Results of the integrative review of the literature identifying factors influencing career choices will be presented. Strategies for tracking students from five participating primarily undergraduate institutions will be described, including tracking data bases and what works when locating students. Using qualitative and quantitative measures, current status for the 144 students who participated in INBRE will be demonstrated. For instance, students report a high level of satisfaction with INBRE: “Convinced me to become a biomedical researcher.” “It gave me more confidence in doing presentations and opened up another world of science I would have never thought about.” Recommendations for recruiting students, capturing their interest in science careers, and tracking progress conclude the poster.

Increasing Undergraduate Research at The College of St. Scholastica:  A Collaboration Between S-STEM and the McNair Scholars Program

            Jennifer Rosato and Kathleen Cargill, The College of St. Scholastica

S-STEM and the McNair Scholars Program collaborate to create more opportunities for  students to participate in research locally, regionally or nationally.  Successes include:  100% of students in both S-STEM and McNair, who have completed research, graduated on time; increased student participation in the poster sessions; increased participation in GRE prep classes; and 100% placement in graduate school or employment.

Current practices contributing to students’ research success include:  referring students to both programs; combining graduate school skills-building seminars; assisting students apply to research sites (e.g., REU, UROP, SUROP); providing information on scholarships; and assisting students with poster presentations. 

Future emphasis to further engage students includes:  visiting graduate schools; attending discipline-specific conferences; and presenting research at the National Conferences for Undergraduate Research (NCUR).   S-STEM and McNair collaborate effectively to promote a culture of undergraduate scholarship and research, increasing students’ information about their need for and the availability of opportunities for experiential learning.

Integrating High School Students and K-12 Educators into an Undergraduate Research Lab

            Kelly McConnaughay, Sherri J. Morris and Robert Wolffe, Bradley University

For the past five years, researchers in the sciences at Bradley University have integrated high school students and K-12 educators into their labs. We have developed a scientific community of layered mentors where faculty oversee projects, and graduate and undergraduate students mentor K-12 educators and high school students.  This community participates together in research-based activities, educational opportunities, and social events.  Our goals include providing K-12 educators with experiences and skills that will enable them to engage their classroom, giving high school students a greater appreciation for science as a profession, and building undergraduate researchers’ communication skills.  All participants appear to have gained from the experience.  K-12 educators and high school students show increases in their understanding of science and confidence in their scientific abilities.  Program administrators, faculty mentors, and student mentors feel a part of something larger than their own research programs by contributing to the next generation of scientists.

Integrating Undergraduate Research with Study Abroad Programs

            Alison Champeaux and Kathleen Cargill, The College of St. Scholastica

Currently students wanting international research opportunities may access a CSS-sponsored study abroad program, or work through the McNair Scholars Program, or access programs at other institutions.  Students must initiate a search, choose a discipline-specific program, coordinate application details, connect with the corresponding faculty advisor, secure their own funding, determine if credits earned overseas are transferable, and ask available faculty or staff to assist with the application.  The is only option for a student’s doing research abroad:  creating his/her own process.  Students find this effort daunting.

We propose the creation of a Study Abroad Office with an easy, centralized process to assist students wanting research abroad opportunities to augment their coursework, to broaden their worldview and to prepare for graduate study. We propose that centralizing would more effectively place students abroad by coordinating placement details, increase the number of undergraduate researchers, expand students’ world views and increase student retention in college. 

Interdisciplinary Research Based Biotechnology Curriculum

            Rupa Iyer, University of Houston

Using the soil bacterium Pseudomonas dimunita as a model, the interdisciplinary research based undergraduate lab curriculum is being developed at University of Houston a modular format in collaboration with industry and academic partners.  The new biotech labs are intended to provide hands- on experience to understand the interconnectivity between disciplines and can be potentially transferred to any institution interested in interdisciplinary education.

Two key elements of this process are

1. A multi-faceted, project-based curriculum that incorporates current research into undergraduate labs to cover topics from microbiology, molecular biology and biomanufacturing and introduction to nanotechnology enabling students to engage in research experiences early on during their undergraduate years

2. Interdisciplinary curriculum

  Two curriculum tracks one in Bioprocessing and the other in Bioinformatics interface biology with engineering and computers respectively and give students the flexibility to tailor their degree based on their interests, educational background and career goals.

Research Experiences for Incoming Students: The Carver Program at Coe College

Martin St. Clair, Coe College

Since 2004, Coe College has been inviting incoming science students to apply for an eight week research experience in the summer prior to their first year of college.  The program places the students in existing undergraduate research groups in which they quickly become full participants.  Comparison to a cohort group of incoming science students with similar ACT scores and high school GPAs who did not participate in the program indicates that: 

1.  the research students have a higher retention rate at the college

2.  the research students are more likely to continue to take classes in the sciences

3.  the research students perform better in the science courses.

4.  the research students continue to participate in research - at Coe and through REU programs – at a high rate.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that the experience provides substantial peer group support and serves as an excellent transition from high school to college.  

The Science Research Institute (SRI): A Model for Enhancing Student Interest and Competency in Science

            Michele C. Kieke, Concordia University-St. Paul and  Joanna R. Klein, Northwestern College

Northwestern College and Concordia University-St. Paul collaborated to develop the Science Research Institute (SRI) program which serves undergraduate biology majors, high school science teachers, and underrepresented urban high school students. The goal of SRI is to foster skills in basic and applied scientific research in order to better prepare students for further education and/or careers in the sciences.  The program begins with a 4 week summer research component led by college faculty during which foundational laboratory skills are taught through guided inquiry labs.  These skills are then used as students embark on small-scale independent research projects.  Research teams are composed of high school students, college students, and high school teachers to provide various levels of mentoring.  An academic year component brings the research teams together monthly for continued mentoring and learning.  Assessment results from the pilot program indicate SRI has increased high school students’ interest and competency in science.

The Theory of Planned Behavior Predicts Student Participation in Research

            Lenore T. Szuchman, Barry University

In order to facilitate the intention of undergraduate students to conduct their own research study, we applied the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). According to this theory, a student’s intention to engage in research will be determined by the student’s attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control toward research. We held a contest in a sophomore-level psychology class. To win, the students had to write the best “proposals” for how they would change public attitudes about saving the Everglades. The winners were promised a trip to the joint meeting of the Georgia and Florida Academy of Science. We hypothesized that their a) attitudes would be affected by the writing exercise, b) their subjective norms would be influenced by the fact that our senior undergraduate and graduate students would be presenting completed research at the meeting, and c) their perceived control would be affected by having won the contest.

The Watershed Warriors:   A Model for Early Undergraduate Research

            Rachel O'Brien and Caryl Waggett, Allegheny College

Eleven undergraduates participated in an eight-week investigation of a regional watershed in northwestern Pennsylvania.  Eighty percent of the students had completed only one or two years of college; the majority had no prior professional work experience. The project focused on collecting large datasets to characterize a regional watershed.  In small teams, students collected data for three tasks:  field mapping of bedrock joints, aerial photograph interpretation of surface lineaments, and sampling/analysis of stream water samples.  Each student learned valuable technical skills (e.g. map reading, measurement of strike and dip, aerial photo interpretation, water sampling and wet chemistry techniques).  However, we also observed significant gains in basic professional skills:  communication, time management, problem solving, attention to detail, self confidence, physical and mental stamina, and comfort working in groups.  Early undergraduate research of this type may lead to enhanced academic performance, better preparation for independent research, and increased success in the job market.

Undergraduate Biomedical Research at Western WY Community College

            Bud Chew, Western Wyoming Community College and Scott Seville, University of Wyoming.

Students at Western Wyoming Community College have been conducting biomedical research funded through NIH BRIN and INBRE programs. Selection is based on math and science faculty recommendations and an interview with current research students. They generally are second-semester freshmen, and have completed science coursework only in General Biology I. They enroll in “Introduction to Science Research” class every Spring. With no formal lecture, these students learn laboratory skills (we currently are conducting rodent baroreflex experiments), the Scientific Method, critical literature review, experimental design, data collection and analysis. In most years, these students have presented their work at the Experimental Biology conference, as well as The University of Wyoming Undergraduate Research Day. The best of these students compete for “INBRE Transition Scholarships” to the University of WY, where they can continue funded undergraduate research. Success is gauged by continued participation in research; the biggest challenge is assessment of that success.

Undergraduate Research Activities in the STEM Disciplines at ECSU

            Margaret Young, Elizabeth City State University

Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), a historically black institution, is the only four year comprehensive baccalaureate institution in northeastern NC.  The School of Mathematics, Science and Technology has been vigorously promoting undergraduate research experiences for several years.   MST initiated Research Week in 2005 whereby our undergraduate students are able to present their research to the university and the community.  The model that has allowed a growth in undergraduate research activities is the encouragement of close student/faculty interactions at the freshman/sophomore level.  The students learn basic techniques for a year and then are given individual projects.  They have 2-3 years to complete a project, are encouraged to attend state and national conferences, and produce publishable research. Over 100 students from all the STEM disciplines have been involved. These students also serve as mentors to incoming research students and have developed a camaraderie which is unique in the student population.

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship in the Arts and Humanities

Learning About Research by Conducting Research

            G. Peggy McFall, University of Alberta

Discovery learning helps students learn by doing.  In this example, students in a mid-sized (50 student) third-year developmental psychology course designed and conducted a research project.  The students discussed a range of research questions in class and settled on a current concern in the popular press regarding the effects of instant messaging and chatting on spelling by adolescents.  With GTA support, the students conducted literature reviews, designed the study, tested adolescent participants, collated the data, and performed initial statistical analyses of the data.  Many students expressed a new understanding and love of research as well as a deeper understanding of cognitive development.  With the assistance of several students from the class, we are now completing the data analysis and preparing a manuscript for submission for publication.  In this poster, we present our approach as well as reflections from the instructor, the GTA, and students.

Native Son and Liberty Loans: Faculty-Student Collaborative Research in Literary and Cultural Studies

            Laura Behling, Gustavus Adolphus College

This poster will detail two project that I’ve undertaken with undergraduate students in the past three years.  The first project, a study of the writ of habeas corpus in Richard Wright’s Native Son, was straightforward literary criticism, the traditional way scholarship in literary studies is done.  The second project, a museum exhibition of World War I poster art, approached the project from a cultural studies perspective.  Both projects required the students and I to collaborate in research and writing, in thinking about how to present material to audiences, and in considering the advantages and disadvantages in conducting such collaborative research.  My poster will detail the projects, including the learning outcomes and work schedules, as well as provide suggestions as to how to overcome some of the familiar concerns from English faculty in thinking about collaborative research.

Undergraduate Research in the Interface of Disciplines

A Three-Phase Program for Enhancing Faculty Involvement in Undergraduate Research and Scholarhip

            Fredricka L. Gilje and Eric S. Murphy, University of Alaska Anchorage

A major challenge to enhancing an undergraduate research and scholarship program is engaging faculty in the process. Many faculty are unfamiliar with ways to mentor undergraduates. As a result, they are reluctant to recruit undergraduates into their research programs because of the time and effort required to be successful. To enhance faculty involvement in undergraduate research and scholarship, we designed a three-phase project to teach faculty members, particularly junior faculty, how to effectively mentor undergraduates in research and scholarship. First, a mentoring handbook authored by 23 faculty members, representing diverse disciplines, was developed. Next, a companion website was designed to make the mentoring handbook widely available. Lastly, a seminar series was organized to disseminate best practices in the mentoring of undergraduates. We believe that our program can serve as a model for other universities who wish to enhance their undergraduate research and scholarship programs.

An Established Science and Math “Chalk-talk” Student Seminar Series

            Patrick Desrochers, University of Central Arkansas

An informal “chalk-talk” science and math seminar series involving nearly 200 students over its 10 year history will be described.  This program has evolved from an experiment in student presentations to its establishment as a fixture of monthly undergraduate research promotion and dissemination within the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas.  In this seminar series effective student presenters demonstrate the best of science and math communication in the form of lucid, often entertaining, presentations of their research using nothing more than the chalk-board.  Successes, some failures, and many benefits of this program will be presented.  As a whole this series has helped form myriad undergraduate research experiences, across five departments, into a college-wide research environment that encourages students to become active participants in the broader science and math community.

Efforts of an Emerging Undergraduate Research Center to Promote Interest from Across the Disciplines

            Preston Lee Phillips, Tulla Lightfoot, and Jesse Peters University of North Carolina at Pembrok 

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke – Undergraduate Research and Creativity (PURC) Center was established during the spring semester of 2006.  Since then, we have worked to encourage a community of faculty-mentored opportunities for students across the disciplines.  As with most colleges and universities, opportunities already existed within the traditional sciences.  Our strategies for drawing participation from the humanities and arts have included 1) partnering art faculty for student development of our PURC logo, 2) encouraging faculty to have their students participate in our campus-wide PURC Student Forum, 3) teaming up with the university writing center as a part of the forum, and 4) encouraging and supporting student participation regional and national research fora.  These efforts have resulted in a marked increase in cross-discipline involvement in student research and creativity projects.  Most recently, we have collaborated with NC Beautiful to provide a scholarship opportunity for environmentally related research and/or projects.

Engaging Students from across the Liberal Arts in Environmental Research

            Robert Askins, Connecticut College

Connecticut College sponsors an innovative certificate program in environmental studies that is open to students with any academic major.  The culminating experience of this program is a senior research project.  Most students analyze an environmental issue from the perspective of their academic discipline, so final projects may be policy papers, biological research reports or art projects.  Students apply for this competitive program in the sophomore year.  Their proposals must describe how a set of courses and a summer internship will prepare them for the senior project.  For three years students participate in an evening seminar that emphasizes discussion and exchange of ideas among sophomores, juniors and seniors.  This certificate program successfully brings students and faculty together from a wide range of disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts.  The common focus is learning how to understand and solve environmental problems.

Institutionalizing a Student Research Program

            Alan Utter, Appalachian State University

We will present information on how to institutionalize a student research program in a comprehensive University. The session will include the following key components: staffing, organization structure, budgeting, programmatic activities,and web-site development. The session will highlight the critical roles that each of the following plays in the successful implementation of a University-wide student research program: Students, Faculty, Department Chairs, Deans, Student Development, Athletics, and the Library. We will highlight the perceived benefits to students who engage in research endeavors as part of their general education as an undergraduate student.

Undergraduate Contributions to Community-based Genome Annotation Efforts

            Nicholas Stover, Bradley University

Recent years have seen an explosion in freely available genomic sequence data from evolutionarily important organisms with small research communities. Undergraduate research in our lab involves functional investigations of genes in two such organisms, the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila and the simple metazoan Hydra maganapapillata. These projects offer undergraduate researchers the ability to contribute to the annotation of these genomes, an opportunity reserved for authors of peer-reviewed publications in larger model organism research communities.  To assist in these annotation efforts we have enlisted the aid of colleagues in the Computer Science department to establish web-based interfaces to collect and display data from unpublished sources, including independent undergraduate research projects and investigative laboratory classes.  It is our hope that the ability to make immediate, meaningful contributions to these worldwide annotation efforts will stimulate student interest in genomic research and prepare them to produce and utilize genome annotation data.

Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research: Challenges and Opportunities

            Patricia Decker, University of Central Missouri

A grant from the Lancy foundation provided stipends for summer research experiences for 16 undergraduate students in the fields of nursing, dietetics and nutrition, fitness/wellness, psychology, social work, communication disorders, and economics.  The team also formed a collaborative relationship with Care Connections, an area agency on aging.  The goal of this research experience was to prepare undergraduate students in health-related professions to conduct interdisciplinary research.  

Interdisciplinary research presents numerous challenges and opportunities, many of which were encountered in this project spanning two summers.  Challenges included preferential orientation to one’s own field, communication barriers among disciplines, time needed for collaboration and cross-disciplinary education, differing research methods, and inability to evaluate the contribution of other disciplines.  Rewards and opportunities included evolution of a sense of teamwork, increased understanding and appreciation of other disciplines, development of communication skills, and a sense of accomplishment.

Undergraduate Student Involvement in Multidisciplinary Research through the “Independent Project Experience” in Capstone In Chemistry Courses

            Stephanie Sen, and Barry B. Muhoberac, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at IUPUI has developed a junior/senior level course sequence entitled Capstone in Chemistry, where students are engaged in a host of activities, including the “independent project experience.”   In most cases, multidisciplinary projects that focus on experimentation, pedagogy, or outreach are conducted with identified scholars chosen from IUPUI or the Indianapolis community, in coordination with the course instructor, as mentors.  These scholars include faculty in other departments, the medical school, information sciences, and researchers in local industry.  Students are required to present the background, rationale, and results of these studies throughout the semester, culminating in a final poster/oral presentation and written report in journal article format. We believe this mechanism for engaging students in research is applicable to other urban institutions.  A summary of how research is integrated through the independent project experience in the Capstone in Chemistry courses will be presented.

Using Research Collaborations with Undergraduates to Examine Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Issues.

            Gary Muir, St. Olaf College

A research collaboration is described in which an undergraduate student conducted literature reviews and designed assessment measures for an experiential learning (EL) project that required introductory psychology students in small groups to present some aspect of the course content material to local elementary school classes. The project challenges undergraduate psychology students to demonstrate a deep level of understanding of the presentation content material. Such depth of understanding is required to enable them to flexibly communicate that content in an age-appropriate manner to students anywhere from Kindergarten through 5th Grade. Feedback results from undergraduate students, elementary school students and teachers based on measures resulting from the student research collaboration, demonstrated that this project supported learning outcomes in undergraduates in a way both student groups greatly enjoyed.

Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research: Results from CUR Workshop Initiative Participants

Beginnings of an Undergraduate Research Inititave

            Quentin Davis, Andy Hauger, and Christian Poppeliers, Augusta State University,

The history of Augusta State University and undergraduate research at our institution will be discussed. Since attendance at the CUR workshop, our team has engaged in numerous meetings to begin the processing of developing a ‘culture of research’ on campus. These efforts include interdisciplinary gatherings of faculty in our college to share our research, discussion with administrators about resources for supporting faculty, and determining faculty currently engaging students in scholarly collaboration. A formal committee has been formed to represent all disciplines in the college. While this committee is currently forming specific goals, it is an integral step toward the institutionalization of research at ASU. Current challenges and goals are discussed.

Carlow University: Faculty-Student Collaborative Scholarship, Current and Future Directions.

            Stephanie Wilsey, and Beth Zamboni, Carlow University

Carlow University, a private, women-centered, urban university, participated in the September 28-30, 2007 CUR Regional Workshop. This poster presents the strategic goals and initiatives devised in the workshop, current status on each goal, and future directions for faculty-student collaborative scholarship at our university.

Charting the Course - Campus Planning for Undergraduate Research

            Sharon McGuire, Boise State University

“Charting the Course”, Boise State University’s strategic planning document, articulates our path to become a Metropolitan Research University of Distinction.  As BSU transitions to this destination, faculty research and graduate programs grow in importance while at the same time we strive to maintain our tradition of quality undergraduate education.  To accomplish this, we must have a culture where teaching and research are an integrative process that privileges undergraduates.  CUR has assisted in us reaching this destination by supporting a team from BSU to participate in the CUR Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research workshop. This poster illustrates BSU’s strategic journey towards supporting faculty in increasing undergraduate research and partnering with the community to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Collaborative Undergraduate Research in the Social Sciences at a Small State Undergraduate University

            Susan Prezzano and Laurie Occhipinti Clarion University

Faculty and administrators at Clarion University have worked hard over the past year to integrate undergraduate and collaborative faculty-undergraduate research into the curriculum and into the culture of the university. In the past, the hard sciences have been the most successful in instituting both in-load and extra-curricular collaborative projects.  This poster presents progress in the social sciences and identifies future programs at the university that we hope will change the perception of research at our state institution.

Developing a Research-Focused Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP):  The UH Discovery-Based Learning Initiative

             Veronique Tran, University of Houston

The University of Houston is a flagship metropolitan research university.  Our student body is the most ethnically diverse of any major research university in the nation - the demographics of our more than 27,000 undergraduates mirror that of the city of Houston.  As part of our reaffirmation of accreditation process, our comprehensive Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) was developed through broad-based involvement of the campus community.  Our mission is to create a campus culture that is supportive of undergraduate research.  Using a two-pronged approach of providing research-related skills training and expanding research opportunities, we aim to transform the undergraduate experience of our students through the Discovery-Based Learning Initiative.  Elements of the initiative include central resources, college and department initiatives, development of a research-supportive curriculum, and expansion of mentored research. Our QEP was well received by the SACS Onsite Review Committee, and the Discovery-Based Learning Initiative will be launched in Fall 2008.  

Development of a Plan for a College Wide Undergraduate Research Program at Bennett College for Women

             Gwendolyn Bookman, Susan J. Curtis, and Karla McLucas, Bennett College for Women

Bennett College for Women has developed a plan to enhance the climate and resources for undergraduate student research.  The goals of the plan are:  (1) to provide students and faculty with the resources for significant research in interdisciplinary projects and in the major fields of study of the College;   (2) to provide incentives for faculty to increase research productivity; and (3) to facilitate research presentations and publications in a variety of avenues, including peer reviewed journals.  The progress of the College toward these goals includes: (1) Major programs have a research requirement as a part of their degree requirements; (2) Students in all Divisions are encouraged to participate in internal and external summer research internships; (3) Partnerships have been formed with other institutions which allow research collaborations; and (4) Grant funds have been secured to support research, including the NSF HBCU-UP Grant and the Faculty Research Fellows Grant.

Initiating Institutional Change through the Auspices of Faculty Development

            Tara Sirvent, Vanguard University

Students, faculty and the institution benefit when a vibrant undergraduate research (UR) culture is an important part of the University’s identity. Emphasis on research, however, has to be consciously shaped at every level from the faculty to the administration. Important factors include moral support and mentorship for new faculty members to financial support for equipment, supplies, stipends and research-related travel. Several faculty members from VUSC attended the 2008 CUR Western Regional Workshop on Institutionalizing Research. We report a novel strategy for garnering support for UR. Faculty development is an important and valued aspect of University life and is strongly supported by the faculty and the Provost. We are using UR as a mode for delivering faculty development, and we requested endorsement by the Faculty Development Committee. Working under the framework of their authority, we have overcome attitudinal barriers and are effecting change in the institutional capacity for UR.

Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research at California Lutheran University

            Michele LeBlanc, Grady Hanrahan, Christina Soderlund, and Jose Marichal, California Lutheran University

A team of four faculty members from CLU attended the CUR Regional Conference on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research at CSU Northridge in February 2008.  We returned to campus with what we thought was a fairly ambitious action plan.  We have been pleasantly surprised to have our ideas met with great enthusiasm by many different constituencies on campus.  Our progress will be highlighted in this poster.

Institutionalization of Undergraduate Research at The University of the South

            Robert Bachman, The University of the South Department of Chemistry

In October 2007, our team attended a NSF-CCLI funded CUR Regional Workshop on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research at Spelman College in Atlanta.   We will review the mission statement and strategic goals and plans developed at this meeting.  We will also present our progress to date toward meeting these goals.

Institutionalization of Undergraduate Research at Western Carolina University

            Sean O'Connell, Western Carolina University

Western Carolina University (WCU), a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina, has a current student enrollment of almost 8,900 students. Beginning with an NSF-CCLI CUR workshop at Spelman College, we will present results on the institutionalization of undergraduate research.  A university committee has worked to promote undergraduate research, to collaborate with other entities involved in research, to assist in the development of a pilot summer undergraduate research program into a university initiative, and to encourage decision-makers to support undergraduate research.  

Institutionalizing STEM Experiential Learning at Whitworth University

            Drew Budner and Kerry Breno, Whitworth University

Whitworth University is working to institutionalize undergraduate research and experiential learning particularly within the STEM disciplines. To further our success in this endeavor we attended the Northwest Regional Workshop on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research in late February 2008. At the conference we reviewed previous action plans developed at Whitworth, investigated other models for research, and refocused our future objectives.  We developed an action plan consistent with our mission as a small, Presbyterian, residential, liberal arts university.  Our objectives were defined in five areas: increased opportunities on-campus and off-campus, establish sustainable financial support, integrate experiential learning into curriculum, provide administrative support, and maintain research facilities to accommodate needs.  We are looking forward to sharing our progress in opening a dialog regarding experiential learning and gaining support from Academic Affairs, as well as, our challenges in changing perceptions and aligning promotion and tenure documents.

Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research at California State University San Marcos

            Gerardo Gonzalez, California State University, San Marcos

California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) is a comprehensive regional undergraduate university with approximately 8000 students, located in north San Diego County. At less than 20 years old, CSUSM is at a very early stage of development; thus there is a significant opportunity to have an impact on the campus culture as the institution matures. The Committee for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) was established to move CSUSM toward institutionalizing undergraduate research campus-wide. Our long-term goal is to become a campus where undergraduate research is a priority and where faculty and students involved in research are supported and recognized by the university. Early successes include official recognition and support from the Provost and recruitment of an interdisciplinary team of faculty to join CUGR. We will report details on our action plan, anticipated challenges we will likely face, and opportunities for success.

Other Presentations

Ask An Sponsored Research Officer

Frances Farnsworth, Middlebury College and  Linda Freed, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Experienced sponsored programs officers from small public institutions and liberal arts colleges will be available to answer questions and provide general advice about grant-seeking and proposal writing on an individual basis.   This service is intended to help faculty from campuses without centralized support for faculty grant-seeking or who may not yet have made connections with that support.   Computers will be available to enable hands-on experience with online databases and electronic grant submission systems.

Best of the Web:  Web Resources and Great Ideas for Program Directors

            Linda Blockus, University of Missouri-Columbia

This poster will highlight some of the best web sites for information of interest to Program Directors, including "how to" sites for students on making posters, writing abstracts, making oral presentations, preparing for national conferences.  Additionally, the poster will highlight some of the most interesting institutional websites that promote undergraduate research programs that can be used for models in developing and enhancing your own websites.  This information is being compiled by a team of undergraduate students at MU.

Developing an Undergraduate "Culture of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities"

            Timothy Lyden and William Campbell, University of Wisconsin, River Falls

This poster presents problems, solutions and experiences of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls community as it struggled to develop an undergraduate “culture of research, scholarly and creative activities” over the past 10 years. It focuses on a unique solution that developed as a “grass roots” student organization in 2002. That organization, the Society for Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities or “SURSCA” was founded by students attending the 2002 NCUR meeting in Whitewater WI.  Inspired by the experiences of presenting at a national meeting the students decided to start an organization to support future trips to such conferences.  The following 5 years saw success after success as more than 180 UWRF students attended the subsequent NCUR meetings.  Eventually, funding challenges lead SURSCA to propose a research component within a campus “differential tuition” and this resulted in a $75,000 annual fund being established to support the fledgling campus research community.

Engaging Transfer Students in Research: The UCF Summer Research Academy

            Kimberly Schneider and Alison Morrison-Shetlar, University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has over 6000 new transfer students enroll each academic year. Often these students only find out about opportunities to engage in research towards the end of their two year stay at UCF. Therefore, to help transfer students engage in research earlier in their career at UCF, we developed a three-day summer term academy. During the academy, students attend professional development workshops, meet faculty and students engaged in research, and take site visits to research environments. Participants work in groups that are lead by student research peer mentors. All academic disciplines are invited to participate. Students who get accepted into the program receive one academic credit, room, and board during their stay. The program was developed in 2004 and has since expanded to include current UCF rising sophomores and juniors.

Hiding in Plain Sight: (Re) Discovering Undergraduate Research

            Michael Matthews, Margaret Cochran, Jan C. Sims, Northwestern State University

This poster session will highlight the challenges to the development of an undergraduate research program at Northwestern State University.

Northwestern State University is a primarily undergraduate institution (8,500 FTE) which serves the rural populations of several parishes in the northern section of Louisiana, but also draws students from throughout Louisiana and adjoining states. It is funded at 65% of capacity.

Desired outcomes (short-term) from the workshop at UTEP include an environmental scan of faculty who are involved in undergraduate research, increased funding for student projects, and recognition of research activities.

3) In their "spare time" Team NSU developed a list of faculty who are heavily involved in UR. In April of 2008, those faculty will be invited to a brainstorming session to help define UR for the university. The data gathered from that event will guide the development of a "Build a Mentor" workshop to be offered in August 2008.

Improving Data Analysis Skills of Students

            Allison Wilson, Benedictine University

Students often demonstrate a lack of confidence when asked for conclusions to be drawn from a dataset.  To address this need, students were provided with datasets from the scientific literature from which they could make observations and conclusions.  Students presented these datasets to the class.  Presenters composed questions to lead their classmates through the dataset as well as facilitated small group discussions of the questions before their formal presentation. A PowerPoint presentation was used to lead a large group discussion about the main points of the dataset.  Presenters used a student response system (clickers) to actively engage their classmates in the answering of the questions during the presentation.  Assessments have been positive.  Additional benefits included decreased intimidation with analyzing and understanding primary data, a practical method to learn techniques for studying cell biology and actively engaging students in the course material.

Mainstreaming Undergraduate Research across the University

            Carolyn Roberts, University of Gloucestershire

The Centre for Active Learning, University of Gloucestershire, is a national Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, recognised by the UK Government in 2005, initially within one academic School, and rewarded with £5M. It is now responsible for promoting inquiry-based curriculum approaches in all the University’s academic Departments, facilitating students and faculty increasingly working together as communities of scholars on research projects in classrooms, studios, laboratories and beyond.

Drawing on conceptual models of institutional change, the poster will evaluate some strategies used to encourage and foster more active styles of engagement. These include the University’s ‘Teaching, Learning and Assessment Policy’, pedagogic research projects, module development funding, staff development activities at various levels, Visiting and internal Fellowships for collaborative developments, institutional affiliations (such as CASTL), celebration of achievements, and careful assessment of outcomes. Specific initiatives such as induction programmes for new students, and the redesign of premises, are included.

Student Virtual Research Networking Portal (SVRNP)

            Richard Tafalla, Susan McClelland, Susan Krahn, and Susan Foxwell, University of Wisconsin-Stout

The Student Virtual Research Networking Portal (SVRNP) being developed at the University of Wisconsin-Stout is a research-focused, digital networking portal that links research resources and provides a research social networking environment.  It is an access point for students to obtain all needed university resources to conduct research, plan their research education, make decisions about conducting research, and disseminate their research.  Most of all, students will be able to network with other students conducting research on campus and eventually, world-wide.  In addition, it is a pedagogical tool for faculty and advisors to teach students how to conduct research.  Furthermore, faculty can share models for integrating research into teaching.  As UW-Stout positions itself as a first-class Polytechnic, it is important to create a culture of research, exploration and inquiry.  The SVRNP is a reflection of UW-Stout’s commitment to a high-tech, digital learning environment.  This poster will present the development of the SVRNP.

Successful Integration of a Research Requirement into the Biology Curriculum at a Small College

            Douglas Jensen, Converse College

Converse College has less than 700 students.  Its Biology Department has 3 professors and graduates 7-10 majors annually.  In 1999, the Biology Department implemented a requirement that all students, beginning with the class of 2003, must perform a research investigation.  The requirement has since changed, for both pedagogical and practical reasons, and current students satisfy it by taking a Research Methods course or by performing an investigation at Converse or elsewhere.  We do not have records of the initial goals of this requirement; however, we estimate that it should:  (1) increase student/faculty research; (2) increase the frequency of student presented and published papers; (3) increase alumnae interest in post-graduate academic education; (4) increase alumnae success in post-graduate education; and (5) improve student understanding of scientific methodology.  Alumnae tracking indicates that the first 4 goals were met.  Goal 5 was tested through faculty surveys, and also was shown to be met. 

Using Blackboard as a Lab Management Tool and Information Resource for Undergraduate Research Students

            Brian Greuel, John Brown University

Any tool that promotes information flow and consistency in the research lab, while also allowing undergraduate research students to be more self-sufficient, has the potential to increase productivity of both mentor and students alike.  I have found the course management software, Blackboard Academic Suite (Blackboard, Inc.), to be effective as a lab management tool and information resource for undergraduate research students.  Lab announcements and policies, protocols for experiments, video demonstrations, data collection templates, recipes for reagents, inventories of chemicals and supplies, product literature, primary reference materials, and links to relevant web sites are all easily accessible to students on the site I have designed.  We are also experimenting with the use of Blackboard as a group laboratory notebook.  As new data are obtained by students, they are posted on the Blackboard site where they are accessible to all lab members.  Individual and group photos of lab members are fun additions to the site.