Newswise — Logan, Utah – April 11, 2011 – Undergraduate research and hands-on learning is a hallmark of Utah State University. USU is excited to celebrate National Undergraduate Research Week, April 11–16, and recognizes the exciting projects and accomplishments of our undergraduates.
“Working with undergraduate researchers brings me into contact with extraordinary students,” said Joyce Kinkead, associate vice president for research at USU. “I am encouraged by the enthusiasm that these students show for their work, and I look forward to celebrating their accomplishments during National Undergraduate Research Week.”
Undergraduate researchers were recently recognized for their outstanding work at the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony held during the 25th annual Student Showcase event on the USU campus on March 29. Students and faculty were recognized for their exemplary research work as Undergraduate Research Mentors of the Year and Undergraduate Researchers of the Year, also known as the Peak Prize, an endowment established in honor of Dr. David Peak, professor of physics, and Dr. Terry Peak, associate professor of social work. The Peak Prize was presented to one student from each of the academic colleges at Utah State University, as well as one student from a regional campus.
The following students received the Peak Prize for their outstanding research: Clifford King is a senior majoring in Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences with an emphasis in bioveterinary science and minors in chemistry and biology. His long-term goal is to become a veterinarian working to solve metabolic disorders in dairy cows. Clifford has been able to excel in both research and classroom settings. He has maintained academic excellence while taking very rigorous courses in the bioveterinary science curriculum. Clifford recently received funding to pursue research on heat stress in dairy cows. He started his research in May and will present the findings of the project at extension meetings held across the region. His curious and sharp mind has distinguished Clifford among the many undergraduate researchers in the college of Agriculture.
Christopher Ainge began his research career during the fall of 2009 with Assistant Professor Chad Albrecht of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. Since then, Ainge has teamed up with Assistant Professor Daniel Holland to continue developing his research skills. They are currently working collaboratively on three separate projects, which include an entrepreneurial case study, a qualitative piece discussing various aspects of the business model concept, and a quantitative study that explores variables related to entrepreneurial persistence decisions. Ainge anticipates beginning doctoral studies in the fall of 2011, as a precursor to an academic career. Katherine Pike is a senior majoring in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education. During her research project, she helped to develop an individualized test protocol to evaluate literacy development in elementary students. She then went on to work with her mentor to develop a database, analyze these data, and write about her results in her undergraduate honors thesis. Katy is an Undergraduate Research Fellow as well as a university and departmental honors student and will graduate Summa Cum Laude. She has presented at Research on Capitol Hill and the American Speech Language Hearing Association, a very competitive and prestigious forum. Katy Pike represents the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. Alyssa Calder, a biological engineering major, conducts research on biomaterials engineering under the direction of Dr. David Britt. Alyssa is the co-author of two manuscripts that have been submitted for peer review in the Environmental Pollution Journal and in the Hazardous Materials Journal. She has also presented her research at three professional conferences. Alyssa’s research poster was awarded first place at the Intermountain Conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering in November 2010. Last year, Alyssa presented at the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research and at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Alyssa is a member of the Society of Women Engineers and is actively involved with its Outreach Committee, which develops and delivers engineering activities to both elementary school and high school students to increase their interest in engineering. Rachel Jaggi will graduate from Utah State University in Spring 2011 with Honors and a triple major in German, International Studies and Sociology. She is the valedictorian and Scholar of the Year for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. In addition to excelling in her course work, Rachel has spent her time at USU actively engaging in intensive international language training, leading campus-wide service activities, and advancing scholarly research. Rachel spent the 2008-2009 academic year studying at the Universitaet Bielefeld in Germany. This experience built on previous study abroad activities in Germany at the Ehrenbuerg Gymnasium and the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program in 2006-2007. After graduation, Rachel will participate in a Critical Language Scholarship Program in which she will experience intensive language instruction in Turkish. She will then enroll in a graduate program where she will develop a research agenda studying the social, political and economic situation of Turkish migrants in Germany.
During her first semester as an Undergraduate Research Fellow in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences the College of Natural Resources, Erin Fleming worked in Dr. Nick Bouwes’ lab on stable isotope analysis of aquatic macroinvertebrate drift and benthos samples. In spring of 2009, she began working in the Limnology lab, on a number of studies on the Great Salt Lake. She has worked mainly on a project titled “Importance of the Great Salt Lake’s Deep Brine Layer for Mercury Transfer and Nutrition of Brine Shrimp,” and has presented findings from this study at Research on Capitol Hill, USU’s Student Showcase, the 2010 Friends of the Great Salt Lake conference, and at this year’s American Society of Limnology and Oceanography conference in Puerto Rico. She also has worked on a paleolimnology study aimed to understand previous lake conditions through analyzing sediment cores and has participated in ongoing eutrophication and water quality monitoring on the lake. Combined, these projects will lead to better understanding of appropriate water quality standards for managing the GSL ecosystem. Shortly after completing a course in Introductory Biology in spring semester 2009, Clayton Gunnell became involved in studies of antlions, velvet ants, and tarantulas in the laboratory of Dr. James Pitts. Clayton’s research involves extracting the DNA from specimens and then using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to amplify specific regions of DNA for use in taxonomic, systematic and biogeographic studies. His most recent research resulted in the discovery of the first cryptic species in antlions, suggesting that Brachynemurus sackeni is two morphologically indistinguishable and geographically overlapping species, which evolved about 3.8–4.7 million years ago. Clayton has presented his research twice at the USU Department of Biology Undergraduate Research Symposium and, in April 2010, he presented at the Entomological Society of America Pacific Branch Meeting in Boise, Idaho. His research has contributed to a paper published in Psyche: A Journal of Entomology (2010) in which he is a co-author and to a second manuscript that is currently in preparation for submission to the Journal of Arachnology. Clayton represents the College of Science as a Peak Undergraduate Researcher of the Year. Julie Crozier Lamb is currently a senior majoring in psychology with a minor is sociology. Upon graduating from USU in the summer of 2011, Julie hopes to attend graduate school to obtain a Master’s degree in psychology—school counseling. Julie’s first experience with undergraduate research was in Dr. Christopher Johnson’s Scientific Thinking and Research Methods in Psychology course. As part of the course, Julie crafted a research proposal aimed at studying the efficacy of yoga to reduce hypertension in pregnant women. Using the course assignment as a stepping-stone, Julie pursued and successfully procured URCO funding to support execution of the research. Julie represents the Regional Campuses of USU. Notably, her mentor for the URCO Grant, Dr. Christopher Johnson, is located at the USU-Ephraim campus while Julie is at the USU-Uintah Basin campus.
The eight college undergraduate researchers of the year make up the pool from which the USU Undergraduate Researcher of the Year will be selected. That person will be announced at USU’s Robins Awards on April 16.
Undergraduate research mentors—faculty recognized for their efforts in working with students—were also selected from each college and received an award and cash prize during the awards ceremony. The award winners are:
College of Agriculture: Brent Black (Plants, Soils & Climate) Caine College of the Arts: Alexa Sand (Art)
Jon M. Huntsman School of Business: Kenneth Bartkus (Marketing)
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services: Julie Wolter (Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education)
College of Engineering: Kevin Heaslip (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Christy Glass (Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology)
College of Natural Resources: David Koons (Wildland Resources)
College of Science: Joanie Hevel (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
Regional Campuses and Distance Education: Nathan Straight (English)
Undergraduate Research Day is part of USU’s Research Week. Now in its seventh year, Research Week highlights and honors the accomplishments of faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students. For more information about the week’s events, visit http://researchweek.usu.edu.
The Uintah Basin Regional Campus of USU will also participate in National Undergraduate Research Week with their 11th annual Uintah Basin Research Conference. This conference highlights current research on issues of importance to the Uintah Basin and promotes the advantages of having a research university in our community. There will be presentations by undergraduates and researchers on their current research projects as well as recognition Julie Crozier Lamb, the Regional Campus Undergraduate Researcher of the Year. View this link for more information http://uintahbasin.usu.edu/htm/news&nid=255.
Utah State University is an institutional member of the Council on Undergraduate Research; additionally, three USU faculty member currently serve as elected members of the Council: Christie Fox, Director of Honors; Alexa Sand; and Joyce Kinkead. For more information about research at Utah State University, visit http://research.usu.edu/.
RSS