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Student research highlighted at festival
May 11, 2007
Posters lining the walls of the Morken Center showcased the research and capstone accomplishments of PLU students at the 13th annual Natural Sciences Academic Festival on May 4 and 5.
The festival provided students with an opportunity to present the research they completed during the academic year. Through posters and oral presentations, students described their work, in biology, chemistry, computer science and computer engineering, geosciences, mathematics and physics, and the interdisciplinary environmental studies program.
Poster presentations included those projects completed for an academic course, while most oral presentations featured the capstone projects of graduating seniors.
Students in biology professor Ann Auman’s microbiology course designed their own experiments to study bacteria. Six students in the course studied the effectiveness of the disinfectant used to clean the exercise equipment in Names Fitness Center by comparing it to the disinfectant used in the lab setting.
“We got onto the topic of where to find the most bacteria,” said student Joe Meszaros. “It brought up the question, ‘How sanitary is the fitness center?’”
The students collected samples from the headrest of the bench press machine and the handlebars of the elliptical machines. No bacteria grew from the elliptical machine handlebars, but the samples from the bench press grew plenty, Meszaros said.
The group placed the bacteria samples in various concentrations of the lab’s disinfectant and the fitness center’s disinfectant. At full concentration, the lab’s disinfectant was more effective than the fitness center’s; but at diluted concentrations, the fitness center’s maintained its effectiveness better than the lab’s, Meszaros explained.
“The normal concentration at the fitness center is ample, assuming students are using it effectively. And actually using it,” he said.
Not all the presentations depicted the results from an experiment. For example, students Josh Poole and Sunrise James presented a poster explaining the neurological condition synesthesia, a condition in which two or more of the body’s senses are coupled.
Meanwhile, geology and environmental studies major Eric Allen’s project evaluated the policies and regulatory agencies charged with protecting the Clover Creek watershed. To determine if the policies are working, Allen looked at whether salmon had returned to the creek, the number and kinds of pollutants found in the water and the amount of water flowing in the creek throughout the year.
Allen said his assessment showed the policies are currently failing, but there is hope. Pierce County recently began using a checklist to evaluate the impact of a new development on the environment. If it’s used correctly, the checklist should positively effect the watershed, he said.
“I learned how interconnected things are, how policies are made for the watershed and what agencies look at,” Allen said.
Learn more about the natural sciences division at www.nsci.plu.edu.
Poster presentations included those projects completed for an academic course, while most oral presentations featured the capstone projects of graduating seniors.
Students in biology professor Ann Auman’s microbiology course designed their own experiments to study bacteria. Six students in the course studied the effectiveness of the disinfectant used to clean the exercise equipment in Names Fitness Center by comparing it to the disinfectant used in the lab setting.
“We got onto the topic of where to find the most bacteria,” said student Joe Meszaros. “It brought up the question, ‘How sanitary is the fitness center?’”
The students collected samples from the headrest of the bench press machine and the handlebars of the elliptical machines. No bacteria grew from the elliptical machine handlebars, but the samples from the bench press grew plenty, Meszaros said.
The group placed the bacteria samples in various concentrations of the lab’s disinfectant and the fitness center’s disinfectant. At full concentration, the lab’s disinfectant was more effective than the fitness center’s; but at diluted concentrations, the fitness center’s maintained its effectiveness better than the lab’s, Meszaros explained.
“The normal concentration at the fitness center is ample, assuming students are using it effectively. And actually using it,” he said.
Not all the presentations depicted the results from an experiment. For example, students Josh Poole and Sunrise James presented a poster explaining the neurological condition synesthesia, a condition in which two or more of the body’s senses are coupled.
Meanwhile, geology and environmental studies major Eric Allen’s project evaluated the policies and regulatory agencies charged with protecting the Clover Creek watershed. To determine if the policies are working, Allen looked at whether salmon had returned to the creek, the number and kinds of pollutants found in the water and the amount of water flowing in the creek throughout the year.
Allen said his assessment showed the policies are currently failing, but there is hope. Pierce County recently began using a checklist to evaluate the impact of a new development on the environment. If it’s used correctly, the checklist should positively effect the watershed, he said.
“I learned how interconnected things are, how policies are made for the watershed and what agencies look at,” Allen said.
Learn more about the natural sciences division at www.nsci.plu.edu.