2011 science summer research projects
During the summer of 2011, 82 students worked on 61 different research projects across the science division.
Research covered a wide range of topics: some dealt with diseases, others with environmental concerns. Researchers studied proteins and micro organisms. Research took place in campus labs and outdoors. Some students traveled to other states as part of their research and some research concerned outer space.
This summer science students researched everything from the human eye to herring gulls. See a video of them in action.
Below is a sampling of more projects:
Biology
- Ariangela Davis researched bacteriophages with Professor John Wertz. Read more>>
Chemistry and Biochemistry
- David Kuipers, Dan Oram, Matt Salie and Jared Scripture studied how a dietary supplement works on diabetes, supervised by Professor Larry Louters. Read more>>
Computer science
- Andrew Webster worked with Professor Joel Adams on the project "The Stories They Tell: A Quantitative Study of Computer Generated Games and Movies." See the poster Andrew prepared for the Science Division Summer Research Poster Fair.
Engineering
- Tyler Helmus and Caleb Reese worked with Professor Matt Heun on the project "Development of a Super-fast Numerical Equation Solver in Java. See the poster they prepared for the Science Division Summer Research Poster Fair.
Geology, geography and environmental studies
- Kyle Whalley worked on a project investigating human impacts and management presence on Lake Michigan dunes. He was supervised by Professor Deanna van Dijk.
Mathematics and statistics
- Shaun Alsum and Mark Zylstra worked with Professor Thomas Scofield on a project concerning data reduction in shape recognition. See the poster they prepared for the Science Division Summer Research Poster Fair.
Physics and astronomy
- Professor Deb Haarsma and her student researchers, Nathan Harkema and David Sebald, studied the largest galaxies in the universe. Read more>>
Psychology
- Jonathan Wong worked with psychology professor Paul Moes and physics and astronomy professor Loren Haarsma doing electrophysiology experiments which study tissue slices from a mouse brain. See a video about their work.
