Muskingum News

Science division students presented their research findings at the annual Fall Research and Internship Forum held October 3 in Boyd Science Center.

The following students made poster presentations:

Craig Miller '08 presented Flow Cytometric Analysis of Rationally Designed Anti-BCRP Hammerhead Ribozyme Activities in Vivo. He researched the use of ribozymes in eliminating or down-regulating breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) in order to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Karen Witker '09 presented research she conducted with Dr. Cora Lind of the University of Toledo titled Kinetic Study of the Production of Zirconium Tungstate Hydroxide Hydrate. The goal of this project was to optimize the formation of the precursor, zirconium tungstate hydroxide hydrate which forms zirconium tungstate, a material that shrinks when heated.

Katlin Oress '09 presented Grassland Bird Nest Site Fidelity and Additional Research Opportunities at the Wilds. She participated in two major research projects at the Wilds: grassland bird site fidelity, where she assisted in capturing and color-banding more than 80 grassland birds; and giraffe foraging behavior, where she observed giraffes and collected foraging data.

Amy Miller '10 presented research she conducted with Dr. Michael Misovich of Hope College titled Explicit Vapor Pressure Prediction from the PRSV Equation of State. They conducted research on the PRSV equation, which is a cubic equation of state (or condition) that can be used to accurately estimate the vapor pressure of a substance by an iterative algorithm.

Ashley Campbell '08 presented Piping Plover and Least Tern Reproduction Study on Long Island, NY. In conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, she conducted a survey of piping plovers and least terns (two types of birds). Pair bonds were tracked, territories were identified and clutch size was monitored.

Melissa Kollman '08 presented research she conducted with Dr. Anne Kwitek and Allison Beaty of the MCW SPUR Program titled In the Absence of Ghrelin Receptor, Heart is More Prone to Cardiac Ischemia. Using rats, they studied the protective role of ghrelin, which plays a substantial role in energy homeostasis by stimulating appetite and weight gain in the heart.

Jessica Turner '08 presented research she conducted with Drs. Barbara Wolfe of the Wilds, Rachael Weiss of the Wilds, Michael Whitacre and Linda Penfold titled Effects of Fluphenazine Decanoate on Cortisol Levels in Central Chinese Goral (Naemorrhaedus goral). Their study calculated the results of fluphenazine decanoate, a stress/aggression reducer, on the ovulation of Chinese goral (a mammal related to goats).

Kylie Johnson '09 presented Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species. She worked as a crane intern, assisting in general husbandry, artificial insemination, egg collection and chick socialization.

Greg Leasure '08 presented A Population Estimation of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at the Wilds. He conducted a census of the white-tailed deer population at the Wilds for the purpose of determining an accurate population estimate and density estimate.

Jason Tarbert '08 presented Finding Heinrich Events and Studying Ancient Climate Change Using Ice-Rafted Debris (IRD). He washed and sieved deep ocean sediment samples to obtain IRD which helps determine when periods of glaciation took place on Earth. 

Scott Madison '10 and Anthony Carson '09 presented Summer Internship at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR): A First-Hand View of Coring, Drilling, Reclamation Efforts, and GIS Applications. As interns, they conducted field work at coal mines and witnessed blasting operations, mining impacts and reclamation efforts in the southeast portion of Ohio.

Andrew Houze '10 presented Summer Internship at Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. During this internship, he participated in multiple research projects and received Wildland Firefighter Type-Two training.

Bryan Bates '09 presented Database Design and Management at LMI Custom Mixing, LLC. He made use of the data received from control units around the polymer mixing plant to generate custom reports. The internship also focused on designing databases for data entry to handle ordering/inventory and rejections/repairs.

Ashley Burkett '08 presented Geology in the Sun. She studied 12 soft sediment cores and associated them with airlift samples taken in various environments in the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix.

David Shahbodaghi '10 presented Family Medicine Internship with Jeffery Burrier, M.D. & Burrier Family Practice, Inc. He observed and assisted Dr. Burrier with patients, paperwork, billing and working with pharmaceutical representatives.

Jessica Lade '10 presented Cincinnati Zoo Education Internship. She led summer camps and educational classes as well as participating in daily animal enrichment, workshops and discussions.

Jessica Teaff '08 and John Grennell '08 presented Giraffe Rumination Study at the Wilds. The main focus of their research was to determine the health of the rumen (animals that chew cud) by counting numbers of ruminations.

Julie Travaglini '09 presented Environmental Education Internship at the Dawes Arboretum. She helped educate children on appreciating and conserving the natural world.

Holly Soper '08 presented The Development of Server Software Tracing and Testing Color Image Compression. She researched two projects undertaken by InfoPrint Solutions Company: one that improved the server software tracing capabilities of their web-based application product and another that ensured the image transformation quality from software to hardware and vice versa.

Becky Shroeder '08 presented research she conducted with Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Amy Santas titled Biochemical Evidence of the Dystroglycan Complex in Epidermis. They studied wound healing in the epidermis in order to gain insights on the processes that are uncontrolled by cancer.

Anya Belyaevskaya '08 presented research she conducted with Dr. Santas titled Biochemical Evidence of the Dystroglican Complex in Epidermis. They studied the proteins that make up different complexes in the skin in order to eventually use wound healing to better understand aberrations that occur in cancer.

Mai Dang '09 presented research she conducted with Dr. David Bedwell of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Jessica Buckley, titled Effects of Tasniks and YxCxxxF Motifs from Variant-Code Ciliated Protozoan Oxytricha Trifallax on Translation Termination in Saccharomyches Cerevisiae. They introduced the TASNIKS and the YxCxxxF motifs from the Oxytricha trifallax, a variant-coded ciliate, into the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The results of this suggested that YxCxxxF should play a higher role in stop codon specificity.