Undergraduate research at Lewis & Clark College, part 1: The Rogers Summer Research Program

The following teams of Lewis & Clark faculty members and students participated in summer research funded by the Rogers Summer Research Program, the Beckman Scholars Program, and the Sherman-Fairchild Foundation. Weekly brown-bag research presentations were held throughout the summer, and the program will culminate with a poster session on September 16, 2009.

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Greg Hermann, associate professor of biology; and students Micah Depper ’10, Steven Levitte ’10, Becca Salesky ’10, and Hannah Somhegyi ’11 – “Investigating the biogenesis of lysosomes in a multi-cellular animal.”

Janis Lochner, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of Science; Bethe Scalettar, professor of physics; and students Lindsay Hilken ’10, Louis Prahl ’10, and Alex Simon’11 – “Neuromodulators and Memory.”

Nikolaus Loening, associate professor of chemistry and students Aaron Kim ’10 amd Zach Wilson’10 – “Structural Studies and Characterization of Neurotoxic Venom Peptides from Sicariidae Spiders.”

Deborah Lycan, professor of biology, and students James Chu ’10 and Rebecca Fitch ’10 – “Ribosome biogenesis and export.”

Biology

Greta Binford, associate professor of biology, and students Alec Kerins ’09 and Brendan Larsen ’10 – “Molecular evolution of the toxic enzyme sphingomyelinase D in venoms of brown spiders (Loxosceles).”

Ken Clifton, associate professor of biology, and students Peggie Hannah ’11 and Dylan Smith ’11 – “Investigating the effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ upon the structure and function of calcium carbonate accretion in tropical green algae of the genus Halimeda.”

Peter Kennedy, assistant professor of biology, and students Logan Higgins ’11 and Rachel Rogers ’11 – “Exploring the factors controlling microbial community structure: competition and host specificity.”

Gary Reiness, professor of biology, and students Alix Dixon ’11 and Kenneth McCullough ’10 – “Mechanism of Export of Chicken Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor.”

Chemistry

Anne Bentley, assistant professor of chemistry, and students Robin Osofsky ’11 and Eric Randall ’11 – “Formation of Nanoparticle / Solid State Thin Film Composite Materials via Electrochemical Co-Deposition.”

James Duncan, professor of chemistry; and students Irena Bierzynski ’11, Lila Forte ’09, and Marie Lafortune ’10 – “CASSCF calculations as a probe of the pseudopericyclicity of electrocyclic and [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangements.”

Louis Kuo, professor of chemistry, and student Curtis Smith ’10 – “Investigation of Molybdenum Complexes for Degrading Neurotoxin Analogues.”

Geological Science

Elizabeth Safran, associate professor of geological science; and students Kelsey Croall’11, Emily Jones’11, and Chris Scheffler’10 – “Impact of large landslides on river valley evolution, Central and Eastern Oregon.”

Physics

Stephen Tufte, associate professor of physics; JoAnn Wadkins, Wilson High School; and students , Eric Douglass ’10, Nathan Laws ’10, and Dylan Stadler ’10 – “Observational Investigations of Short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars.”

Psychology

Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology; and students Rose Blackman ’10, Dylan Peden ’10, Jessaca Willis ’13, and Richard Ledonne ’11 – “Dispositional, Cognitive and Physiological Influences on Risky Decision Making in the Game of Dice Task."

Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology; and students Rose Blackman ’10, Dylan Peden ’10, and Richie Ledonne’11 – “Encouraging Interest, Increasing Empathy and Knowledge, and Shrinking Stereotypes With a ‘Serious’ Computer Game?”

Yueping Zhang, associate professor of psychology; and students Theresa Hennings ’10, Iris Kemp ’10, and Hillary Galloway-Long ’09 – “Understanding College Students’ Drinking Behavior: Prefrontal Lobe Functions, Physiological Arousal, and Personality Traits.”