Summer may mean lighter class schedules and easier parking at UAA, but the science never stops. Last week, nine undergraduate students from around the U.S. presented their research—everything from differences in seal muscle fibers to the possible survival of microorganisms on Mars—and fielded questions from an interested crowd in the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building.
This was the 7th year the UAA Department of Biological Sciences hosted students through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Professors David Pfeiffer and Khrys Duddleston were in charge of the grant-funded research exchange that draws students from as far away as Florida to spend 10 weeks in Alaska, paired with faculty mentors.
And competition is stiff; approximately 200 students applied for 10 available slots at UAA. Here’s this year’s roll call:
- Alexandria Dyer (Colgate University)Ana Gabriela Herrera (University of Alaska Anchorage)
- Ellen Irwin (Dartmouth College)
- Teresa Liu (Bowdoin College)
- Kathryn Metzker (University of Miami)
- Kaitlyn Miller (Bowdoin College)
- Erin Oliver (Louisiana State University)
- Jon Shero (McDaniel College)
- Lauren Simonitis (University of Miami)
- Kate Wilsterman (Bucknell University)
Many of this year’s students divided their time between work in the field and in the lab and will head back to their home universities with their first scientific publication credits, as well as some souvenir mosquito bites.
Dyer, who worked with Professor Duddleston and Professor Jerry Kudenov to study the effects of antibiotics on gut microbes in arctic ground squirrels will continue working with them to complete a paper in the next six weeks.
“It was fantastic working with Allie this summer. She was great in the lab and instrumental in moving that part of our project forward,” said Duddleston.
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UAA’s Summer of Science Research,
