| Opportunities
for Research in the Biology Department
Houghton’s Biology department gives both
students and faculty a variety of opportunities for both individual
and collaborative research.
The department is particularly excited about our
new curriculum which encourages faculty-student collaborative
research. Each faculty member has one semester each year to work
with a small group of students (maximum of six per professor)
focusing on a research area in biology where the faculty member
has interest and expertise. The students in that research team
under the direction of their professor work as a group to gain
knowledge and training on original research. Up to five credit
hours are awarded each student for such work, which usually involves
lab and field work, keeping a journal, reviewing literature, data
analysis, and a public presentation of their work. Within the
last year more than a dozen students have participated in student-faculty
collaborative research and several students have or will present
their findings at regional and national scientific meetings. Joint
publication by these student-faculty teams in scientific journals
is expected within the next year.
Senior students
are encouraged to work on senior honors research under the guidance
of a departmental faculty member. The rising senior student submits
an honors proposal for research at the end of their junior year
to the faculty Curriculum Review Committee, which evaluates it
for approval. The senior student then completes a year of research
under the guidance of the advisor. The results of the research
is presented by the student as a scientific manuscript to a faculty
committee (including the advisor) and defended in an oral defense,
similar to that which graduate master’s students complete.
Upon successful completion, the bound manuscript is submitted
to the Houghton library, and the student may be encouraged to
submit the research for publication in an appropriate scientific
journal. Twenty three biology students have successfully completed
honors research within the last decade and their topics across
a wide field of biological subdisciplines are listed
here.
Faculty research
within the Biology department is supported through the faculty-student
collaborative research curriculum as well as the Moreland Chair.
Within the department, two faculty members are supported through
the endowment of the Moreland Chair. This has translated into
summer monetary support of the faculty and student assistants
to do research. Over the last three summers, students have been
given a monetary stipend and free housing to work on research
supported by the Moreland Chair. Last summer, students were working
on both the main and Star Lake (Adirondack Park) campuses
Biology
Senior Honors Projects since 1994
Intestinal Leukocyte Infiltration
Mediation by Meprin Beta
Fine-scale genetic mapping and
cloning of the Transparent Testa 9 locus in Arabidopsis thaliana
Assessment of Photosynthetic Bacteria
in Spring Lake in situ and in Lake Simulation Experiments
The Effects of Substance P and
Cortisone on Beta Amyloid Neurodegeneration in Rats
Birds of Allegany County: Seasonal
Checklists and Historical Trends
The Effects of Topically Applied
Progesterone on Induced Premature Labor in Rats
Seasonality of Benthic Macroinvertebrates
and Water Quality in Two Streams in Allegany County
The Effects of Exogenous Mealtonin
on Sleep and REM Latencies in Rats When Admistered During the
Light Period Versus the Dark Period
Differences in Shoreline Vegetation
Between Impounded and Natural Northern Maine Lakes
Seasonality of Benthic Macroinvertebrates
and Water Quality of Houghton and Crawford Creeks, Allegany County,
New York
The Timed Response of Superoxide
Dismutase to Oxidative Stress
Development of a Reliable Technique
to Ascertain Microspore Viability in Wheat (Triticum aestivum
L.)
Risk and Analysis Behavior Survey
at Houghton College
A Comparison of Small Mammal Population
Densities and Diversity in Habitats of Varying Successional Stages
The Effects of Interleuken-10 on
Ameboid Microglia in Rats
Identification of Stress-induced
Protein in Embryogenic Microspores of Wheat (Triticum aestivum
L.)
The Isolation and Partial Characterization
of Frog (Rana sp.) Plasminogen
Detection of Substances Released
from Cultured Ovaries of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
The Physical and Chemical Effects
of a Small Dam on Wiscoy Creek
The Effects of Ecological Succession
on the Community Dynamics of Small Mammals in Old-Field and Hawthorn
Seral Stages
IgE Response to Mode of Delivery
of Aspergillus fumigatus in the Murine Model
A Limnological Study of Three Softwater
Lakes in Southeastern Connecticut
The Histological Localization of
Heparin in Mercenaria mercenaria
Interaction of Phosphorus, Chlorophyll
a, and Phytoplankton in Spring Lake
Transgenic Expression of the Porcine
Peptide Hormone Relaxin in Arabidopsis thaliana
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