Mastodon Dig and AU Geology in the News

AU Geology Professor Dr. Nigel Brush and his mastodon dig in Morrow County were featured in a Mansfield News Journal article titled "Morrow County mastodon might have coexisted with humans." The article talks about how a team led by Brush spent several days digging up hundreds of bones and fragments from the Morrow County site and then several months piecing together fragments, identifying bones, cleaning and preserving the artifacts and collaborating with experts throughout the country and in Canada to research the findings. Several AU students assisted with this project.  The items from the dig were displayed in a lecture hall in Kettering Science Center. Check out the article at -- http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/local/2015/08/03/morrow-county-mastodon-might-coexisted-humans/31082307/

Dr. Nigel Brush holds up two mastodon bone fragments

Biology and toxicology students earn University honors

With the academic year coming to an end it is time to congratulate our students who earned University honors recognitions this Spring.  Let's start with our three department honors:

Hannah presenting at the 2015
URCA symposium

Our outstanding senior this year is Toxicology major and Choose Ohio First scholar Hannah Baumann.  Hannah has done research here at AU with Drs. Doug Dawson and Jeff Weidenhamer, recently presenting her results at the annual URCA student research symposium.  Last summer she took part in a research internship at Ohio State University in the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy identifying and isolating novel anti-cancer compounds.  Hannah will be starting a PhD program in chemistry at the University of Akron this June.

Isabella Steiner, a Biology major, Spanish minor, Choose Ohio First scholar, and member of the University Honors Program, was selected as our Department's outstanding junior.  Isabella plans to attend veterinary school and currently works in the kennel at Spring Meadow Veterinary Clinic.

Our outstanding sophomore is Biology and Math double major, and University Honors Program member Alyssa Predota.  Alyssa plans to pursue graduate work to become a physician assistant and has shadowed at Lakewood Hospital and and the Parma Veterans Affairs Hospital.  She is currently working as a State Tested Nursing Aid (STNA) at the Good Shepherd here in Ashland.

Mack presenting at URCA 2015

Congratulations as well to Biology major Mack Reece, who was selected as the University's Male Undergraduate Student of the Year.  Mack has conducted research for the past few years with Dr. Paul Hyman on bacteriophage, viruses that infect bacteria.  He has presented his work at meetings of the American Society of Microbiology, at Ashland's own URCA students research symposium, and recently at the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) Meeting in Washington, D.C..  Mack also lead the formation of an Ashland chapter of the AMSA.  He will be attending Case Western Reserve University's Applied Anatomy program this Fall with plans to pursue medical school afterwards.

Ashland science students heading off to great summer internships

We have started to hear from students who have been accepted into research internships for this coming summer.  If you are thinking of internship opportunities for the future these may give you some ideas.  While most internship application deadlines have passed, we are still hearing about some opportunities, so keep checking back with our Science News and keep searching Google.

These are some of the internships our students are heading to this summer:

• 10-week field ecology internship at the Environmental Research Center at the University of Notre Dame involving both classwork and independent research at their field station in the upper peninsula of Michigan
• Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program with Oregon State University working at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR 
• Summer internship at Gorman Nature Center, Mansfield, OH 
• International Volunteer HQ summer program in Cusco, Peru. Typical activities can include planting/reintroducing native species, inventory/observation of wildlife, seedling propagation, and helping with community projects 
• Internship at the Columbus Zoo

Remember that you can always talk with your faculty advisor for information about internships, use the resources of the AU Career Center, and check our occasional blog post with internship searching information.  If you are interested in environmental science or field biology related internships you will want to be on Dr. Saunder's environmental science email list.  Contact her to ask to be added if you are not.

Eleven ashland science students, including many Choose Ohio First scholars, present at research symposium

Toxicology major Alison Biro and Biochemistry major
Peter Kobunski, both COF scholars

Ashland science students represented a wide range of disciplines at this year's College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium (URCA).  In its sixth year, the URCA event was originally chaired by a faculty member from the Department of Biology/Toxicology and has always highlighted a strong contingent of science presentations.  This year eleven science students from biology, biochemistry, chemistry, environmental science, geology and toxicology presented their independent research projects in oral and poster presentations.  Six of these students are members of our Choose Ohio First scholars program, which provides scholarship funding for excellent graduates of Ohio high schools majoring in the sciences.

Biology major Mack Reece

You can see photos of all our presenters on the Ashland Science Twitter feed.

Ashland science students earn track and field honors

Toxicology major and All-American Jamie Sindelar

It has been an action packed few weeks and a very successful season for three of our science students on the AU track and field team.  Last week we learned that Toxicology major and Choose Ohio First Scholar Jamie Sindelar was named the Midwest Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.  This year Jamie threw the second farthest indoor shot put in Division II history.

Jamie joins two senior Biology majors, Jennifer Foster and Jennifer Bjelac, in earning All-American honors this year.  At the national indoor championships in Birmingham, Alabama this past week Jamie finished second in the shot put, Foster tied for second in the high-jump and Bjelac took second team All-American honors in the pentathlon.  As a team the women tied for third place in the nation.

Sewage, water treatment, and you

You may have never thought about internship opportunities, or even a career, in water treatment, but with a large wave of current water treatment workers reaching retirement age there are many opportunities in this area.  Two of our graduates from the past few years are very happy with their employment positions at water treatment facilities.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has two internship openings for this summer as a:

• Microbiology paraprofessional intern, and
• Biology paraprofessional intern

Click on the links above to learn more.

Careers and internships in environmental assessment

Rachel Day in the field

A number of our graduates have recently started careers in environmental assessment after completing their degrees in Biology or Environmental Science.  One of them, Rachel Day (Biology '11), will be speaking on campus this week (Wednesday 1 pm) about her current work, research and career at the Midwest Biodiversity Institute.  Other recent graduates Mary Cargill (EVS '12) and Angela Martinson (EVS '14) are working as environmental scientists at the GPD group where they conduct soil and water testing before onsite construction projects begin.

If you are interested in learning more about environmental assessment you can contact another one of our graduates, Marcy Bolek (Chemistry '86), who is the Vice President of Operations at Alloway.  Marcy contacted us about internship opportunities at their Lima and Marion laboratories.  You can contact Alloway's lab manager Lana Jackson at 419-223-1362 to get more information.