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Poster Session Highlights Student Summer Research
Nicole Mah '05 refers friends to a computer display of her research in neurobiology.
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8/17/2004
Contact: Bill Giduz 704/894-2244 or bigiduz@davidson.edu
by Darcie Draudt ’07
Many of Davidson’s summer student researchers capped their ten-week experience recently with a poster session showcasing their work. Those seventeen students who worked in labs supported by the Merck-AAAS Internship and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Grants decorated the halls and classrooms of Watson Life Science Building with posters summarizing their accomplishments in graphs, pictures, formulas, and scientific text.
Rebecca Steorts ཁ, a math major and chemistry minor, stood sentinel with Merle Schuh, Martin Professor of Chemsitry, beside her poster explaining the kinetics and shapes associated with molecular complexes formed from cyclodextrin molecules. Her project involved the detection of phosphorescence signals produced by the complexes, which were analyzed by using mathematical computer programs to produce insights into the stability and structures of the complexes.
Steorts and others worked closely with their professor/mentors in an intellectual partnership different from a classroom relationship. “Our goal is to treat them like colleagues and not just technicians,” said Mark Stanback, associate professor of biology. “It’s a very productive way to work. They’re certainly able to accomplish much more than you are alone, and they can be someone to bounce ideas off of.”
Steorts explained, “Dr. Schuh and I worked very closely together every day. I would give him updates of my work and we would talk about what the results meant. He was very helpful in explaining the basic concepts of what we were working on before we actually started working in the lab.”
Dario Roque '05 conducted research in the chemistry department.
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Karen Bernd, an associate professor of biology who helped coordinate the program, said it allows students to “test drive” science as a career, and can bolster their resume for graduate school admission with published research.
Bernd said professors enjoy the opportunity to work with students as colleagues, without the tension inherent in assigning grades to work. “It’s exciting to be part of that molding process, and to watch them make those first discoveries and find out what research is really like,” she said.
Megan McDonald ’05, who has created a biophysics major through Davidson’s Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, worked with Associate Professor of Biology Malcolm Campbell and Professor of Physics Dan Boye on microarrays of DNA strands. She created a project that she plans to continue developing as a senior thesis. “This is a completely new discipline that I just love,” said McDonald. “And this project is my own. It’s not someone else’s work that I’m taking over.”
The Merck-AAAS Internship, supported by Merck Research Laboratories and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, employed only Davidson students. However, the REU Grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, was open to non-Davidson students as well, and seven of the thirteen REU student researchers came from other campuses.
Samantha Gergans, a junior at Lewis and Clark University in Washington who worked with Associate Professor of Psychology Mark Smith on the effects of opioid analgesics on laboratory rats, said the internship gave her direction for her future. “Dr. Smith gave endless hours of instruction, so the field is less of a mystery now,” she said. “I know how to go about figuring out what I want to do.”
Alicia Bever from Taylor University in Indiana and Christina Rockwell from Cornell University worked with Associate Professor of Biology Mark Stanback on an ornithological study now in its sixth year. Each day they trekked across golf courses and other areas, checking on blue bird nest boxes to gather data on their residents to study food availability and clutch size. The work involved moving baby birds from one box to another to manipulate the size of broods. Bever explained, “It was sort of like putting together a puzzle. Where can I move this one to create a small brood in this box and a large brood in this box?”
The experience for the students extended beyond the lab or field, according to Bever. “We all worked by ourselves on different projects during the day, but we all were housed in the senior apartments together. So we got together and went to movies or the lake campus. Since there was no homework or assigned papers, it was a much more relaxed atmosphere than during the school year.”
Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,600 students. Since its establishment in 1837, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine. Davidson is engaged in “Let Learning Be Cherished,” a $250 million campaign in support of student financial assistance, academic resources, and community life.
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