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Contents
A Note from the Collaborative Director
Undergraduate Research: Adjusting to Life at a Liberal Arts College
2012-2013 McNair Scholars
Fall-Summer Collaborative Grants
Convention Spotlight
NCUR
AACR
- Kaela Gedda
- Jens Paasen
- Gretchen Panzer
- Hannah Schmitt
- Luanne Spence
- Sarah Titus
Collaborative Research Stories
Important Dates
May 4, 2012 Student Academic Travel Grant and Attendee Grant applications due
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Fall-Summer Collaborative Research Grants
The Collaborative: Center for Undergraduate Research is
excited to award six collaborative research grants for the summer session and
fall 2012 semester. The abstract for
each project is listed below:
“Disabled or Labeled: Disability,
Inclusion, and Educational Attainment”
Anna Miller,
English
Faculty
Collaborator: Dr. Jamie Lynch, Sociology
We are requesting financial support for an extension
of an ongoing research project examining disability and the college experience.
Over the past six months, we have been continuously working on the development
of a qualitative research project that will result in a variety of scholarly
outputs including a detailed in-depth written and oral record of the experiences
of disabled students at St. Norbert College, the production of student-authored
and faculty/student co-authored scholarly manuscripts, and the presentation of
new and original research at local, regional, and national conferences.
“Does it Pay to Attend Medical School?
When is Enough Enough?”
Jennah Landwehr,
Biology
Robert Schadrie,
Accounting
Faculty
Collaborators: Jason Haen, Accounting, Amy
Vandenberg, Business
The
third fastest growing career in the health care today is that of the physician assistant. By
the year 2016, the demand for this job is expected to increase by 40%. Much of
the demand will be driven by the predicted serious shortage of physicians in
the year 2016. As the cost of attaining
a MD continues to grow more and more graduates may
be less likely to pursue family practice and primary care specialties. College
students today face the difficult decision of whether to enter the health care
industry as a physician assistant or walk the extra mile...or marathon to that
of a physician. Though the perceived benefits of earning a MD are substantial
and real, the cost of attaining it is increasing now more than ever. The medical student class of 2010 will
graduate with an estimated debt of $157,944.
Of these graduates, 78% will have debt of at least $100,000, 42% of them
will have debt of at least $150,000, with 85% of total graduating medical
students carrying outstanding loans. (Source: Association of American Medical
Colleges) Further, students are now
entering medical school with more education debt from undergraduate education. Medical
education debt is driven by rising tuition. AAMC data show that median private
medical school tuition and fees increased by 50 percent (in real dollars) in
the 20 years between 1984 and 2004. Median public medical school tuition and
fees increased by 133 percent over the same time period. Other recent 20-year
periods show similar trends. Should increased student debts, interest rates,
and rising tuition costs influence the decisions made by medical students on
whether to pursue a physician assistant career versus that of a physician? We intend to conduct a comparative
cost-benefit analysis comparing a physician assistant versus a physician,
specifically a family practitioner, assuming historical market trends in both
educational costs and future earnings power.
“The Garden Project”
Kaylee Beck,
French and International Studies, Peace and Justice Minor
Meredith Hansen,
Psychology, Human Services and Spanish Minors
Jon Mallek, Political Science and French
Monica Platten,
English and Spanish
Alyssa Wolan,
Elementary Education and Spanish
Faculty
Collaborator: Dr. Marcie Paul, Spanish and Director of the Honors Program
We are active
students and citizens particularly interested in healthy living initiatives. To
explore our common area of passion, we plan to initiate and sustain a garden on
campus in collaboration with the Children's Center. Since we will all be either
living on campus this summer or in the Green Bay area, we will work closely
with the students at the Children's Center, ensuring that these students have
ample opportunities to help with the physical planting and sustaining of the garden. We will also include educational
opportunities in the classroom that connect the joy of gardening with the
importance of eating healthy. We are members of the St. Norbert College Honors
Program, and we have submitted our proposal in order to present our garden
project at the upcoming National Honors fall conference in Boston. At the
conference, we will show our research that analyzes the project from the
perspectives of our four unique majors (i.e. education = school lunch programs,
psychology = optimal development, communications = ability for local
growers/organic to promote healthy benefits, French = international standards
for healthy eating, political science/business = economic benefits of green
movement).
“Reducing Algal Blooms in the
Airport Pond”
Kristin Kniech,
Biology (Pre-Med)
Faculty
Collaborator: Dr. Carrie Kissman, Biology and Environmental Science
Many freshwater ecosystems are experiencing
increased algal bloom formation due to cultural eutrophication, or increased
nutrient inputs from the surrounding watershed. Don McDonald, director of the
Airport Pond Lake Association, contacted the St. Norbert Biology discipline to
request assistance in reducing the frequency of algal blooms and to help
restore the recreational and aesthetic value of the Airport Pond. We propose implementing
a combined top-down trophic cascade (adding piscivores; i.e. largemouth bass)
and bottom-up reduction of fertilizer inputs approach to reduce algal blooms.
We hypothesize that by combining both top-down and bottom-up remediation
techniques, algal bloom frequency will decline, recreational and aesthetic
value will increase and sport fishing will be enhanced. Baseline
pre-manipulation data will be collected from May-late June, largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) will
be added and fertilizer use restricted in late June, and post-manipulation data
collection will continue until late fall. This research represents a
collaborative effort between Dr. Carrie Kissman, freshman Biology major Kristin
Kniech, Don McDonald and the Airport Pond Lake Association members and other
interested community members. This
project will enhance active student learning and foster excitement about
scientific research, build connections with the local community and improve
local environmental quality.
“Rethinking Empedocles D23”
Joel Van Fossen,
Philosophy
Faculty
Collaborator: Dr. Joel Mann, Philosophy
We will be looking at the ancient texts
of pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles. Specifically we will analyze fragment
D23, which is often referred to as “the painter’s passage.” The passage
describes Empedocles’ cosmogony through the metaphor of a painter creating
images. We will conduct research through observing the linguistic and
philosophical content of the fragment. Moreover, we will look at ancient Greek
art to understand the fragment in a way, that up to this point, has been
overlooked. This will provide new insight for Empedoclean scholarship while
using skills unique to both the faculty member and student.
“Structural Coherence within the Leibeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes by Brahms”
Samantha
Finnigan, Music Performance
Faculty
Collaborator: Dr. Blake Henson, Music
Johannes
Brahms composed two sets of Liebeslieder Waltzes,
the original in 1870 with a second set, “Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer” in
1875. While the score layout, intent,
and voicing of each set of waltzes is similar; the music in the second (Neue) set is markedly more chromatic and
highlights a later, more evolved idiom for Brahms. Still, their similarities
are immediately aurally perceptible, thereby suggesting a structural
relationship with the original set. We intend to analyze the structure of each
set following a Schenkerian analytical approach, then perform in-depth analyses
of selected movements from each collection so as to identify structural
similarities of each movement as they relate to one another, to the structure
of the larger set, and to similar movements in the second set of waltzes. Our
ultimate goal is to discern a larger “Liebeslieder
Structure” that governs the composition and cohesion of movements within and
across both sets.
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