Jackie Heitzman, a senior at St. Thomas, spent part of her spring break at Loyola University in Chicago, where she had a chance to present research at the annual meeting of the Midwest Chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETC). Heitzman’s presentation also won her a $1,000 award for Best Student Platform Presentation. Heitzman has worked closely with Dr. Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt, Biology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, on water quality research with the support of a grant from the Grants and Research Office’s Collaborative Inquiry Grant Program, which provides $1,000 for students interested in conducting extracurricular research for a semester alongside a faculty mentor. In addition, much of her travel costs for the conference were offset by a Student Conference Travel Grant from the Grants and Research Office. The research for Heitzman’s award-winning presentation, “Qualitative in vitro assessment of neuroendocrine-activity of water reclamation plant effluents in Greater Chicago,” was co-written by UST undergraduates Katie Boyd, Emily Cabel, Caitlin Kielblock, Lauren McGovern and Megan Tappe, and was performed as part of a biology capstone course. It was also part of a larger water quality research project led by Martinovic-Weigelt, which is conducted in collaboration with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Anne Klejment
Dr. Anne Klejment, History Department, College of Arts and Sciences, presented her research, "Polish Emigration, 1880-1914" and "US Immigration and Naturalization Law to 1924," to a meeting of the Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota held April 5.
Kirsten Muller, a junior biochemistry major working with Dr. Lisa Prevette, Chemistry Department, College of Arts and Sciences, was awarded the POLYED Undergraduate Research Award for the poster she presented at the spring 2014 national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Her poster, titled "DNA Structure Affects Binding to Polycationic Delivery Agents," described her work investigating the use of charged polymers to transport DNA into cells for possible use in gene therapy.
Carol Peterfeso, chief treasury and investment officer, earned her Charted Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation in March after completing two levels of exams.
Dr. Manjeet Rege
Dr. Manjeet Rege, Graduate Programs in Software, is the co-author of “User-Annotated Microtext Data for Modeling and Analyzing Users’ Sociolinguistic Characteristics and Age Grading,” which is accepted to appear in the proceedings of IEEE Eighth International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, which will be held May 28-30 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
James Rogers.
James Rogers, Center for Irish Studies, is the author of a review of No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston’s Parish Shutdowns by John G. Seitz (Harvard University Press, 2011) in the current issue of the Journal of Social History. Rogers praises the book for providing “an intellectual history of the American Catholic understanding of place.”
Dr. Christian Washburn, associate professor of Theology, St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, is the author of “Papal Infallibility, Vatican I, and three 16th Century Views,” published in Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 44 (2012): 143-170.
Dr. John Wendt
Dr. John Wendt, Ethics and Business Law Department, Opus College of Business, (with Dr. John Miller of Troy University and Dr. Gina Pauline of Syracuse University) is the author of an article titled “An Investigation of Risk Management Protocols at Triathlon Events,” that has been published by the Journal of Venue and Event Management.
Dr. Reid Zimmerman, Opus College of Business, is the author of The Seven Deadly Sayings of Nonprofit Leaders ... and How to Avoid Them, published by Charity Channel Press.
The Geography Department, College of Arts and Sciences, hosted the 10th annual Minnesota Undergraduate Geography Symposium April 26. The symposium was conceived in 2005 to fill the need to showcase local or broad-discipline undergraduate research in geography. This year there were 70 participants from four Midwest colleges. Fifteen UST geography students presented their original research to their colleagues.
