Students from Northern Michigan University's Biology and Psychological Science Departments dominated the award categories at the 28th annual Celebration of Student Scholarship held April 18. Students shared their work with the NMU and Marquette communities by presenting research posters and oral presentations.
The winners in each category are listed below:
Undergraduate Lower Division (all students are advised by Associate Professor of Biology Diana Lafferty)
1st- Grace Robinson: Effects of Precipitation on Relative Abundance of Northern Raccoons, Striped Skunks, and Virginia Opossums on the East Coast of the United States
2nd and People's Choice- Alexandra Bowman: Does Forest Cover Impact Relative Abundance of the North American River Otter, American Mink, and Fisher?
3rd- Karleene Maschke: Percent Urban Landcover Impact on Coyote, Chipmunk, and Mice Populations
Undergraduate Upper Division (all students are advised by Professor/Dept. Head Jill Leonard)
1st- A'Mariya Peterson: Capacity for Thermal Selection in Larval Burbot. Additional adviser: Alexis Pupo
2nd- Sam Shudarek: Impact of habitat enrichment on the development of coping styles in brook trout, lake trout, and splake
3rd- Mia Strazny: Implications of Urbanization on the Relative Abundance of Coyotes, Domestic Cats, and Eastern Cottontails in the Midwest. Additional adviser: Rylee Jensen
People's Choice- Anna Hill: Spottin' Sallies: A look into the behavioral responses of blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) when presented with light stimuli
Graduate Projects
1st- Rylee Jensen: Interspecific variation in gut microbiome diversity across the Etosha National Park herbivore community. Adviser: Associate Professor Diana Lafferty
2nd- Alexis Pupo: Embryonic and Larval Development of the Lateral Line in Burbot (Lota lota). Adviser: Professor/Dept. Head Jill Leonard
3rd- Brendan Zak: Pilot Study: Suture Healing Rates of Walleye (Sander vitreus). Adviser: Professor/Dept. Head Jill Leonard
People's Choice- Emily Greenman - Bartonella Prevalence in Small Mammals of Montana and Idaho. Advisers: Associate Professor Josh Sharp and Professor Kurt Galbreath
Group Projects
1st- Hosanna Brindle, Ahna Larson, Chase Stahl, and Emily Soukup: Establishment of a cold water wound healing model using Lake Superior burbot (Lota lota). Advisers: Assistant Professor Danny LeBert and Professor/Dept. Head Jill Leonard
2nd- Paige Dolph, Elijah Nieman, Jayden Kennison, and Landon Strzelewicz: Motivational Orientation, Explicit Bias, Implicit Bias, and 5-Weeks of Distributed Exposure to Counter Stereotypic Videos. Adviser: Assistant Professor John Barch
3rd and People's Choice- Megan Wells, Jayme Pomper, Isabella Enger, and Lily Briggs: Drug Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Mouse Model. Adviser: Assistant Professor Amber LaCrosse