Lake Superior State University students have demonstrated once again that they can be formidable competitors among their peers when it comes to research. Recently, three LSSU chemistry students received top awards in the undergraduate part of a competition that examined student research in their field.
Megan Keway, left, eyes a sediment sample from Ashmun Bay with Professor Ashley Moerke of LSSU’s Aquatic Research Laboratory. Keway was helping Moerke’s team collect samples that are important to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study of the ‘health’ of the St. Mary’s River. LSSU’s School of Biological Science and Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science is involved in the three-year, $715,000 project.
"Our students received the top awards in the undergraduate competition," said Prof. Barbara Keller Ph.D., chair of the department of chemistry and environmental science. "They really did an outstanding job and seemed to surprise the competition."
Titles of a few of the senior research projects include:
- Heavy Metals Analysis of St. Marys Rivers Sediments, Emily Grenfell
- Evaluating Discharge of Flowing Artesian Wells within the Munuscong Watershed, Kris Dorcy
- Oxidizing Arsenite to Arsenate Using UV Light, Andrea Troschinetz
- Unsupervised Classification of Satellite Date as an Aid to Natural Community Classification in Southeastern Massachusetts, Derek Martin
- Gas Well Installation Effects on Forest Fragmentation Near Atlanta, Michigan, Greg Hochstetler
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"The equipment available to students in our chemistry department is unparalleled in the state of Michigan. Here, undergraduate students get to use the equipment…They don't have to compete with research assistants as they would in other universities."
--Michael Donovan
Dean,
College of Natural and Health Sciences
Student researchers collecting sediment cores on the St. Marys River. |
