A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Deborah O’Dell, associate professor of biological sciences, and Andrew Dolby, professor of biological sciences, have had their paper, “A Comparison of Techniques Measuring Stress in Birds,” published in the Virginia Journal of Science.
This paper was co-authored with former UMW Biology students Michael A. Carlo, Abigail Kimmitt, Ellen Bikowski and Katherine R. Morris
“This is their first taste of what it’s like to be on a research team and to be with other people who are just doing research,” said Deborah Zies, associate professor of biology and co-director of the Summer Science Institute. “It’s a great opportunity for faculty and students to get started on a project and work.”
The daylong event is one of the few to bring together biology, chemistry, earth and environmental science, math, computer science and physics students to present their original research projects to faculty, families and peers.
Students presented on a wide-range of research, from chemical signals in crayfish interactions to astrophotography to the downfall of antibiotics.
“It’s a high-impact learning experience,” said Nicole Crowder, assistant professor of chemistry and co-director of the Summer Science Institute. “I hope that this program exposes students to what it’s really like to be a scientist. Students take the knowledge that they’ve been gaining in the classroom and really apply it.”
At the end of the symposium, the following students received awards for their research presentations:
First-place Oral Presentation: Jerome Mueller, “Developing a Tetra Interpreter,” Faculty Advisor: Ian Finlayson, assistant professor, computer science
Second-place Oral Presentation: Amy Jayas, “The Best Dam Project Ever,” Faculty Advisor: Alan B. Griffith, associate professor, biology
First-place Poster Presentation: Kevin Speray, “Qualifying the Efficacy of Aeschynomene virginica as an Indicator Species for Sea-Level Rise,” Faculty Advisor: Alan B. Griffith, associate professor, biology
Second-place Poster Presentation: Shehan Rajapakse, “Designing the Tetra IDE,” Faculty Advisor: Ian Finlayson, assistant professor, computer scienceDianne Baker, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Mary Washington, has been selected to receive a 2014-2015 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant. Baker will conduct research at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Oslo, Norway beginning in January 2015.
Professor Dianne Baker
The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program.
Baker is an animal physiologist who joined UMW’s biology department in 2006. As part of her Fulbright grant, Baker will employ molecular techniques to study the roles of neurohormones in brain development, using the Japanese rice fish. She will work alongside graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other visiting scientists from around the world. During her research period, Baker hopes to learn cutting edge techniques in physiological research that she can bring back to UMW.
While in Norway, Baker also will guest lecture on animal physiology at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. She also plans to attend the ninth annual European Zebrafish Meeting, hosted at Finn-Arne Weltzien’s lab in Oslo in 2015.
Baker received a bachelor’s degree from Evergreen State College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Washington.
Michael Killian, senior lecturer in Biological Sciences, and Dianne Baker, associate professor of Biological Sciences, had their paper “Corralling Wiggling Worms- Collecting Data for a Multi-Week Laboratory on the Effect of Various Treatments on the Pulsation Rate of the Dorsal Vessel of California Blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus)” published in Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching, Proceedings of the 34th WorkShop/Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE). This peer-reviewed paper was written in support of an invited presentation (workshop) given at the annual ABLE conference at UNC-Chapel Hill, June 21, 2012.
Dianne Baker
Michael Killian
