Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Value of Undergraduate Research

Much of what I wrote in my opinion piece from 2001 on undergraduate research is still valid today. The same topic is addressed in the same issue of Chemical & Engineering News by Profs. Abrash and Bussell.

Incidentally, the student profiled in my opinion piece, Shelli Frey, went on to receive a doctorate from the University of Chicago and is now an assistant professor of Chemistry at Gettysburg College.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Undergraduate research at Lewis & Clark College, part 5: Mathematics and Computer Science

The following summer undergraduate research projects in Computer Science and Mathematics were funded by grants from the National Science Foundation:

Title: Computer Go: Enhancing Monte Carlo Tree Search
Faculty mentors: Peter Drake, Yung-Pin Chen, Jens Mache
Students: Walt Javins ‘11, Jessica Mullins ‘10, Seth Pellegrino ‘10, Bobby Dygert (University at Buffalo), Travis Mandel (Carnegie Mellon University), Drew Tillis (Hendrix College)
Abstract: The Asian game of Go has simpler rules than Chess, but writing a Go-playing program that can compete with strong human players has proven exceedingly difficult. In fact, Go is considered one of the "grand challenges" of artificial intelligence. The Monte-Carlo approach has significantly strengthened the performance of computer Go programs. The team examined and improved the RAVE (Rapid Action Value Estimation) algorithm proposed by Gelly and Silver in 2008, and enhanced the Monte Carlo tree search with two revised RAVE algorithms. Click here for Lewis & Clark’s Orego page and here for more information about the NSF grant that supported this work.

Title: Towards Contour Tracking with Wireless Sensor Networks.
Faculty mentor: Jens Mache
Student: Samuel Bock '11
Abstract: An emerging class of small computers, outfitted with sensors and linked by radio transceivers, can form perceptive sensor networks that will connect more intimately the virtual and physical worlds. This work focuses on making these new technologies accessible to undergraduates through the use of activity based labs and a web accessible collaborative environment. The team explored communication, localization, power management, security, data aggregation and contour tracking. Click here for information about the NSF grant that supported this work.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Undergraduate research at Lewis & Clark College, part 4: Environmental Studies

The following summer undergraduate research projects in Environmental Studies were funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Lewis & Clark College:

Title: The Effect of Message Framing as a Function of Place
Faculty mentor: Brian Detweiler-Bedell, Associate Professor of Psychology
Students: Amanda Hamilton-Cave, Allison Sweeney
Abstract: Attitudes and decisions are often shaped by context quite dramatically and in ways that violate the principles of rationality. One such contextual influence is how decisions are
framed. Individuals think and act differently depending on whether they focus on the advantages of a course of action (i.e., a gain frame) versus the drawbacks of inaction (i.e., a loss frame). In this project, we will apply past research concerning psychological message framing to environmental attitudes and decisions. We hypothesize that the concreteness of place will influence the effectiveness of gain-framed versus loss-framed appeals.

Title: Global/Local Food Networks: Wine & Foie Gras
Faculty mentors: Daena Goldsmith, Professor of Communication; Deborah Heath, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Student: Emily Nguyen
Abstract: The interdisciplinary study of agrifood networks implicates nature and culture, local/global processes, rural and urban environments, production and consumption. The proposed project explores the production, distribution, and consumption of two luxury commodities—fois gras and wine—across Oregon, California, and France. We will study networks that link human and nonhuman actors as well as the competing discourses that construct claims about “quality,” “taste,” and “ethics.” Using actor-network theory and situated knowledge approaches, these two case studies will contribute to interdisciplinary scholarship on neo-artisanal agrifood networks that offer alternatives to large-scale agriculture, and to declining local industries like timber.

Title: Building Web2.0 Environmental Research Resources
Faculty mentor: Jim Proctor, Director/Professor of Environmental Studies
Students: Sarah Bobertz, Dick Burnham-Fink
Abstract: Capping off three years of development, Peter Vidito, Administrative Coordinator for the ENVS Program, worked with student research assistants Sarah Bobertz and Richard Burnham-Fink to finalize a set of online resources to support high-quality environmental research, a major objective of the Program's Andrew Mellon Foundation-sponsored initiative. Their work underscores the Program's Web2.0 approach in building a scholarly community around these resources and equipping it with cutting-edge research tools ranging from academic bookmarking to concept mapping to geographic information systems. The sheer number and diversity of relevant publications, organizations, data, and perspectives on contemporary environmental issues can overwhelm an individual researcher; only by intelligently collecting and sharing these resources and tools are we going to deliver on the potential this century's technologies offer us.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Undergraduate research at Lewis & Clark College, part 3: Summer Program in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Nine faculty-student teams in the arts, humanities and social sciences were supported with internal research grants during the summer of 2009. The teams and their project titles are:

J.M. Fritzman, associate professor of philosophy, and student Kristin Thornburg ’11 – “Interpretive Problems Regarding Two Transitions in Hegel’s Philosophy.”


Daena Goldsmith, professor of communication, and student Greg Miller ’10 – “Couple Communication and Coping With Cancer.”


Oren Kosansky, assistant professor of anthropology, and student Kelly Aldinger ’10 – “Moroccan Jews in the French Colonial Archives.”


Robert Mandel, professor of international affairs, and student Sarah Patterson ’12 – “Dark Logic: Transnational Criminal Tactics and Global Security.”


Joel Martinez, assistant professor of philosophy, and student Hannah Tierney ’10 – “Understanding Moral Judgment: Does Empirical Psychology Reveal the Limits of Moral Philosophy?”


Arthur O’Sullivan, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin. Jr. Professor of Economics, and students James Elwell ’10 and Shelley Zhao ’10 – “Using Agent-Based Models to Replicate the Intra-Urban Distribution of Employment.”


G. Mitchell Reyes, assistant professor of communication, and student Mariana Aroxa ’10 – “The Obama Effect: Race and Representation in ‘A More Perfect Union’.”


Heather Smith, assistant professor of international affairs, and student Andrew Foote ’10 – “Evaluating Empirical Trends in Ratification of Human Rights Treaties.”


Cara Tomlinson, assistant professor of art, and student Nick Makanna ’10 – “Painting at the End of the World: Investigation of the Interactions Between Post-Apocalyptic B-Movies and French Historical Painting.”

Undergraduate research at Lewis & Clark College, part 2: The CAUSE Program for undergraduates and high school students

The following teams participated in Lewis & Clark's CAUSE Program, which is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Undergraduate Science Education Program.


Lewis & Clark Research Teams


Greta Binford, associate professor of biology, undergraduate intern Laura Bogar’11, and high school intern Juana Gaspar, a junior from Rosemary Anderson High School – “How did the brown recluse and their kin diversify in North America?”


Greg Hermann, associate professor of biology; undergraduate intern Travis Walton ’10, and high school intern Aaron Romero, a senior from Clackamas High School – “Investigating the biogenesis of lysosomes in a multi-cellular animal.”


Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology, undergraduate intern Richard LeDonne ’11, and high school intern Jessica Willis, a senior from Centennial Learning Center – “Cognitive Construal and Somatic Markers in Two Games of Risk.”


Stephen Tufte, associate professor of physics, undergraduate intern Dylan Stadler ’10, and high school intern Ines Llosa, a senior from Clackamas High School – “Observational Investigations of short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars.”


Yueping Zhang, associate professor of psychology; undergraduate intern Hillary Galloway-Long ’09, and high school intern Sarah Ramos, a senior from Rosemary Anderson High School – “Understanding College Students’ Drinking Behavior: Prefrontal Lobe Functions, Physiological Arousal, and Personality Traits.”


Oregon Health & Science University / Lewis & Clark Research Teams


Principal Investigator Dr. Kevin Grove; collaborator Dr. Elinor Sullivan; undergraduate intern Martin Meyer; and high school intern: Mitchell Conti, sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “The Effects of Maternal Obesity on Offspring Behavior and Physiology.”


Principal Investigator Dr. Kathy Grant; collaborator Dr. Christa Helms; undergraduate intern Hilary Gray ’10; and high school intern Marrie Getman-Pierce, a sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “Ovarian hormones and ethanol-like discriminative stimulus effects in rats.”


Principal Investigator Dr. Ilhmen Messauodi; undergraduate intern Audrey Fulwiler ’09; high school intern Frances Palomar, a sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “Constructing recombinant Vaccinia virus vectors to measure T cell response to Simian Varicella Virus.”

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.”