Photo Gallery, Fall 2012

Students present their research

 

Jane Lucas (shown here with her mentor, Dr. Adam Kay) was awarded the President's Award for best oral presentation on undergraduate research at the meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Knoxville TN. Jane's talk title was "Azteca ants connect aboveground and belowground processes in a wet tropical forest". Congratulations, Jane!

 

 

The Fall Student Research Sympoium was held on 13 December 2012 in Owens Hall.  There was an oral presentation by Dr. Manske's Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases class and a number of posters.  Here Emily Pohl (middle) discusses her research poster with Dr. Dalma Martinovic and student David Houserman.

 

 

 

 

There are still spaces left in the summer-term Korea course!

 

The palace in Seoul, Korea with a modern skyline behind--just one of the things you would see on this trip.

For information and a map of locations you would vist, click here. 

For more information on the course, click here.

 

Plant Physiology students investigate algae

 

 Sherry Le counts algal cells using a hemocytometer

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The algal cells Sherry was counting were grown in the OWS greenhouse.  Students in Plant Physiology are looking at algal growth under different conditions in an attempt to optimize growth.  This is preliminary work looking at the possible use of algae as a bio-fuel.

 

General Biology students using the greenhouse in OWS

 

Brittany Hassman counts the number of flowers on her Wisconsin Fast Plants.  BIOL 101 students are looking at how environmental factors affect growth and reproductive capacity of plants.

 

This photo shows some of the Wisconsin Fast Plants growing in the OWS greenhouse.  Students have been collecting data on these plants for 3 weeks.

 

 

Students in the field 

 

Students from BIOL 207 are working on a surveillance project to monitor the prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi (the Lyme disease bacterium) in mice and small mammals, the disease reservoir. Note the jar of peanut butter (used to bait the traps) carried by the student in the middle.

 

 

 Dr. Tim Lewis (middle) assists students to set out traps at the Katherine Ordway Natural History Study Area.

 

 

 

Students planting trees as part of a forest restoration project

 

Biology students from several courses participated in planting oak trees and acorns at Fish Creek Natural Area Greenway in the city of Maplewood from October 20th to 25th.   No only will this project include restoring native forest and carbon sequestration (to be used to help offset UST carbon use), but it will also create an outdoor lab for UST students to study and document the effectiveness of restoration efforts over the long-term.

Here students are getting organized to begin planting on 20 October.  The project was organized by Great River Greening.

Planting trees is hard work!  Students had to dig the holes, plant the saplings, and carry water and mulch to the trees.  On the far right you can see a mulch pile, along with a plastic water tank 

 

 

Plant Physiology students investigating photosynthesis

 

Kelsey Barnier (L) and Sherry Le (R) are using a LiCor 6400 portable photosynthesis meter to determine how changing carbon dioxide levels affects photosynthesis. 

 

 

 

BIOL 209 students collecting soil samples to examine microbial diversity

 

Katherine Moldenhauer (standing) holds the sample tubes while Julia Frebault collects some soil from the UST Stewardship Garden.  The soil will be diluted and applied to EcoPlates, which allow investigators to look at differences in microbial communities. Katherine, Julia, and other students in BIOL 209 (Biology of Sustainability) are using EcoPlates to examine effects humans have on the environment.

 

 

 

 

Labs are in full swing...

 

Spencer Toay (L) and Alex Reaves (R) check out their fruit fly strains before making initial observations.

  

This image shows a few of the 100s of bottles of fruit flies that needed to be set up for students to begin genetics experiments in BIOL 207.  Dr. Chester Willson has been collecting, transferring, and maintaining these stocks for weeks in anticipation of starting lab. 

 

 

The first day of classes:  September 5

 

Students pass by Owens Science Hall on their way to their 8:15 classes on the first day.