Biology

EWU McNair Scholar Seth McCullough Completes Summer Research Internship

11/18/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Seth McCullough worked with Dr. Justin Bastow in his Summer Research Internship focused on The Effect of Biochar Soil Amendments on Soil Food Webs in Palouse Prairie Restoration. The internship prepared him for graduate school by providing field researcher experience, wet lab skills, and communication skills, all of which are necessary for success at the graduate level. He learned how to develop his own research project, generating and addressing specific questions and hypotheses. Seth hopes that the results from his research will help with future decision-making surrounding EWU’s prairie restoration project. His results can also be used as baseline data to track the efficacy and progress of EWU’s restoration project in the long-term.

Seth experienced a unique challenge due to COVID-19 protocols: all of the doors were locked to the science buildings, with no professors on campus. To navigate these challenges, Seth learned to pre-plan extensively before sampling events, making sure he had access to all of the equipment he would need. In doing so, he developed strong communication and networking skills by contacting the many people required to gain access to the proper rooms in the science building.

Putting his research experience and findings in his own words, Seth says:

I learned the importance of understanding community composition when working on restoration projects. I learned about how below ground food-web composition can influence above ground productivity. Regarding my specific research, I found that biochar soil amendments significantly increased nematode abundance, soil moisture retention, and pH within the soil at EWU’s prairie restoration project. Soil moisture retention and pH levels increased to conditions similar to what is found at local prairie remnants. Nematode functional group composition did not shift to being similar to the functional group composition that is found at local prairie remnants, suggesting that community structure changes on a large time scale compared to soil abiotic properties.

His next step is completing the manuscript for his research to submit for publication. Since working on soil food-webs he has become more concerned with how below ground and above ground food-webs influence one another and how they are connected. This research also sparked his interest in studying how top-down control can influence the community composition within an ecosystem.

To undergraduate researchers in similar fields, Seth recommends taking advantage of all the opportunities that come your way. He offers a reminder to stay passionate about your research, and apply for any research positions or internships that you can. They are invaluable learning opportunities that give you a competitive edge in the graduate school market.

EWU McNair Scholar Lucia Roussa Completes Summer Research Internship

11/18/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Lucia Roussa worked with Dr. Julie Keister of the University of Washington School of Oceanography on her Summer Research Internship project, Measuring from the Sky: Methods to Quantify Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia labiata) Using Aerial Photographs, in collaboration with CICOES. She contributed to research on the effect that climate change is having on jellyfish populations in the Puget Sound ecosystem. Specifically, she worked on the development of a protocol that can be followed by any researcher using image processing to collect data.

The first week of her internship, which began with remote work, included a coding bootcamp. While initially concerned about her ability to master this new skill, Lucy ultimately learned not to be afraid of something new and challenging. She came away confident that she can learn anything – a great lesson to take with her to grad school.

The last week of Lucy’s internship was in person, aboard the research vessel Rachel Carson in Seattle, which required a quarantine before sailing. For six days, Lucy and the research team conducted laboratory and field work involving Moon Jellyfish sampling.

Lucy was one of only 13 interns selected for this project. She credits her participation in the EWU McNair Scholars program for encouraging her to apply for this opportunity, and for assistance along the way with application feedback and time management support.

Lucy hopes her research and leadership in her field will come to have a global impact.

Any biological research expands our database of knowledge we have about how the world works.

Lucy encourages undergraduates interested in STEM research to remember that they are probably more qualified and competitive than they may think, and reminds them not to disqualify themselves before they have applied for an opportunity! She says that getting involved with research was a game-changer that shaped her pursuit of science. Experience in the field and in the lab helped her develop a clearer sense of what kind of work she wants to pursue as a future graduate student and beyond.

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin Completes Summer Research Internship

11/05/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin has had the opportunity to participate in two research projects during her time with McNair, both with Dr. Judd Case. While each research project was very different from the other, both align with Ashley’s passion for improving targeted care for cats. She notes that much of what we know about cats now comes from research done with other animals. Ashley’s mission is to shift the focus to the cats themselves, contributing to our understanding of cats and improving the ways we care for them.

For Ashley’s first research project Size Scaling in the Skull of North American Felids as Adaptations for Prey Acquisition, she and Dr. Case measured close to 50 felid skulls. Ashley worked with a local large cat rescue, Cat Tales Wildlife Center, and was able to include data on a mountain lion and an African lion. Despite some limitations on the project due to COVID-19, Ashley was proud to present research at multiple virtual conferences.

Ashley’s second research project with Dr. Case, Feline Red Blood Cell Shape and the Impacts of Cytauxzoonosis, was even more influenced by COVID-19. Initially, the plan was to research feline anemia, comparing humans and healthy cats. Unable to acquire the blood samples that they had lined up, the project changed significantly. What they did notice while looking into anemia was a variation in the blood cell shape within the felid family, which led them down an entirely different research path. While well-noted, the shape variation hasn’t been studied extensively. The rest of the project was spent looking at a parasite that uses these blood cells to proliferate and cause severe infection in domestic cats. COVID-19 protocols didn’t directly affect this phase of research, yet it’s the reason they ended up focused on this specific issue.

This research is ongoing, as Ashley and Dr. Case continue to look at other blood parasites to see if a trend appears. There is currently very little research into the blood cell shape variation and the possible impacts to cat care. Ashley is looking at taking this project to graduate school. Understanding the variation and its impacts has the potential to improve how we care for our cats.

Ashley has this advice for undergraduate researchers in her field:

Be flexible, but don’t give up on what you really want. Science is a big enough field that it’s possible to study what you want, it might just take some weaving to find your way there.

12 EWU McNair Scholars Present at EWU Virtual Symposium

10/27/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

In June 2021, EWU held the CSTEM and McNair Spring Research Symposium. This online event offered a chance for McNair scholars to present their research, as well as attend the Social Justice in Research Panel of EWU McNair alumni now working in academics and education.

The mission of the federally-funded TRiO Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at EWU is to increase diversity in academia by supporting first-generation and low-income and/or racially under-represented students in higher education who want to go on to earn a PhD.

When scholars from diverse backgrounds become leaders in their fields, they bring forth exciting and relevant research questions. They grow to be role-models, increasing both representation and opportunities for future students. The 12 McNair current and former scholars who presented at the symposium reflect the many different areas of study where our scholars are gaining expertise. Breakout rooms focused on topics including Prairie Restoration, Social Sciences and Humanities, Fisheries and Water Science, Material Science, Regional Ecology, Microbiome, Disease Ecology and COVID, and Computation and Modeling. Presenters included:

Seth McCullough Effect of Biochar Additions in Palouse Prairie Restoration on Several Soil Perimeters

Rachael Pentico Plant Soil Feedbacks Vary with Aspect in Palouse Prairie Remnants

Alexis Lisandro Guizar-Diaz Indentured Servitude in the 21st Century? A Case Study on Agricultural Labor Employment

Theresa Lee Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community

Alexandria Coronado Impacts of COVID-19 on Food and Housing Student Resources at Universities in State of Washington

Lizeth Bañuelos Latinx First-Generation Students’ Academic Experience: The Role of Institutional Supports During a Pandemic

Christina Hudson The Characterization of African Religions

Mori Williams Nutrient Concentration for Cyanotoxins at Turnbull & Henry’s Law Constant for Chloroform and Deuterated Chloroform

Lucy Roussa Freshwater Algae of Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

Ashley Destin Size Scaling in the Skull of North American Felids as Adaptations for Prey Acquisition

Nyibol Thareek Mitochondrial excitability and its ability to support waves of calcium

Aulane Mpouli Molecular Dynamic Simulation Study of ITPA-ITP Protein-Ligand Complex

We are consistently impressed with EWU’s McNair scholars and we look forward to experiencing the impact of their work!

EWU McNair Scholar Seth McCullough Awarded Cheney Environmental Association Scholarship

10/06/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Seth McCullough! Seth has been awarded the Cheney Environmental Association Scholarship. The scholarship benefits Environmental Studies majors, with selection based on a combination of scholarship, merit, and financial need.

Seth is pursuing a double major in Environmental Science and Biology. He is a research assistant in Dr. Justin Bastow’s lab working on EWU’s prairie restoration project. He hopes that one day his research will contribute to the fight against climate change.

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin Awarded Marjorie Benedict-Holman Scholarship

09/29/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin! Ashley has been awarded the Marjorie Benedict-Holman Scholarship. The scholarship benefits undergraduate single parents.

Currently, Ashley is finishing a Biology major at Eastern Washington University. She recently completed research on Size Scaling in the Skull of North American Felids as Adaptations for Prey Acquisition with Dr. Judd A. Case. This comparative study explores the relationship between skull morphology and general body size among felids (house cat, lynx, puma), mustelids (minks, weasels, badgers), and canids (foxes, coyotes, wolves); with a focus on North American felids, as it relates to prey acquisition. Ashley is pursuing her dream of studying domestic cats, and cats as a whole. This scholarship will allow her to present early research on tick transmitted parasites and feline red blood cells.

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin Awarded Marjorie Benedict-Holman Scholarship