Biology Department
Biology Department News 1999 -2000
May 00
- Southwestern Science T-Shirt for Sale. Southwestern College's chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the biology honor society, has created a T-shirt for science students and alumni that would like to show their pride. The shirt's front proudly reads Southwestern Science in a variety of science-related fonts. The back of the shirt indicates The Top 10 Reasons to be a Science Major at Southwestern College. The shirt is only available in grey with a black and purple design. All sizes are available for order at a price of $15.00. To view the front of the shirt, click here. To view the back of the shirt, click here. All profits will go to the local Beta Beta Beta chapter. Contact chapter advisor, Patrick Ross, at pnross@sckans.edu if you would like to order a shirt.
- Couch Metal Collection. A new display has been prepared utilizing part of the collection of mineralogical and metallurgical specimens donated by alumnus Dwight Couch (Class of '43) and his wife, Mardelle. As a chemist, Dwight worked for the Bureau of Mines in Boulder, Colorado. The display highlights a set of rare metals that the Couches accumulated due to their lifelong fascination with minerals and fossils. This collection joins a similar display of the Couch's fossils and petrified wood. The display was put together by Penny Zahs, a sophomore in the biology program.
- Wildlife Biology Grants. Tanner Lundy, senior biology major, has received a grant from the Maurice F. Baker Research Fund of the Kansas Ornithological Society to conduct studies on bird kills at transmitting towers less than 500 feet tall near Winfield. While avian mortality at larger towers is common in the literature, the extent of mortality at smaller towers is not known, says faculty member Eugene Young. "This is an extremely important study because of the proliferation of small transmitting towers (i.e. cellular phone) throughout the U.S."
Charles Hunter, professor of biology, and Eugene Young, visiting professor in ecology, received a $20,000 grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the 100th Meridian Iniative to prevent the westward spread of the zebra mussel. This is a continuation grant as Hunter has received $21,000 in the past two years. This grant has helped to support the research activities of several students, including Kelly Presley, Penny Zahs, Dustin Wilgers, and Maren Harding.
- Beta Beta Beta Chapter Hosts District Meeting. Southwestern College's chapter of BBB, the biology honor society, was honored to host this year's annual district meeting. The meeting was held outside Lyons, Kansas at Camp Wa-Ja-To. Attending chapters included Truman State University, University of Missouri - St. Louis, Missouri Western State College, and William Jewell College. The guest of honor for the meeting was Max Thompson, who gave a guest lecture on the Birds of Kansas. Patrick Ross, the chapter advisor, hosted a rousing game of Biology Family Feud to finish off the evening's activities. Although our chapter did not have any student research presenters, many of the attending Southwestern students vowed to be presenters at next year's conference.
- Science Division Hosts EASL Symposium. During the last week of classes, the Natural Sciences Division along with the Liberal Arts and Sciences Program sponsored a symposium to celebrate the intellectual and creative achievements of the students and faculty of Southwestern college. The symposium was entitled Explorations in Arts, Sciences, and Letters. All academic disciplines were encouraged to participate and revel in their contributions to further our understanding and exploration of the world. Participation came from many different departments and academic disciplines including Nursing, Theatre, Education, Biology, Art, Mathematics, Photography, and Business. A special highlight was the construction of a tradtional mandala in Deets Lobby by the students of LAS 247 (Buddhism). This ancient Buddhist artform is made from precisely placed arrangements of colored sand or rice. At the end of the day, the work was destroyed in order to symbolize the impermanence of all things. The program from this symposium can be viewed at this link. Campus reaction to the EASL Symposium was positive and the organizers are hoping that it will become an annual tradition.
- Southwestern Biology Seniors Graduate with Honors. The biology, marine biology, and biochemistry programs presented bachelor's degrees to 16 students on May 7th. Our group of graduates were quite impressive. They included four out of six of this year's Masterbuilders (a fifth was Daniel Miller who we feel is an honorary biology major), four out of this year's seven valedictorians, three members of Who's Who Among Students, six members of the Order of the Mound, and five members of Beta Beta Beta.
- Charlie Hunter Takes Students to Pacific Coast for May Module. A group of Southwestern students captained by Professor Charles Hunter headed to the west coast for three weeks in May. Stops along the way included the Grand Canyon, Monterey, and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. Students were able to visit a number of coastal environments and completed both natural history and exploratory projects on the organisms they encountered.
- Gene Young Leaves Southwestern College. Three years ago, Charlie Hunter and Carolyn Herman successfully applied to the National Science Foundation to bring investigative research projects into the Planet Earth class and the LAS program in general. One of the side benefits of this three year grant was the return of Gene Young to the Southwestern College campus. Gene was hired to coordinate the grant and take on the primary teaching responsibilities of Planet Earth. Unfortunately, this past year was the last year of the grant, forcing Gene to make the difficult decision to leave Southwestern College to take on a permanent biology teaching position with Cowley County Community College.
Gene's hard work and expertise, along with Larry Wilgers and Charlie Hunter, has helped to transform Planet Earth into an academic experience that is unique in its ability to introduce scientific research into the general education curriculum. Institutions from across the country have expressed their admiration for the groundbreaking work of this program. During the three years that Gene has taught the field component of the class, his students have amassed a sizeable data set on physical and biological features of the rivers of Cowley County. This data will be useful for future scientists and policy makers interested in water quality issues. Gene has also been tremendously successful in getting students involved in numerous field research projects.
- Science Advisory Council Meets to Discuss Science Program. The Science Advisory Council, a select group of science alumni, were invited to Winfield this summer to tour the facility and discuss directions for the future of the science program with faculty and administrators. One of the outcomes of the daylong meeting was a proposal for a Science Hall of Fame that would honor distinguished Soutwestern science graduates. Participants also discussed ways in which they could help provide internships and other professional opportunities for Southwestern students. The presence of Lloyd Bertholf, a graduate from the class of 192?, was the highlight of the meeting. Lloyd entertained faculty members with stories of his lengthy scientific career in the area of sensory physiology and his interactions with such famous figures as Karl von Frisch, the discoverer of the bee dance "language."
- Faculty and Students spend Y2K New Year's in Australia. Over Christmas Break, Max Thompson took a group of Southwestern students, alumni, and friends to Australia. The intrepid travelers spent several weeks traveling around Australia and learning about its wildlife. Many of their few stops that were a far cry from the typical tourist destinations. A newspaper article detailing the trip can be found at this link.
This trip was part of the Natural Science Division's continued commitment to the short term field courses that formed the basis of programs like May Module, Jan Term, and the Omnibus trip. Future trips include separate summer trips to the Pacific Northwest Africa, a paleontological tour of the American West, and a visit to locations important to the history of atomic energy.
- The Tail of Alvin the Alligator Comes to an End. Just before Southwestern began its first semester of the year 2000, Alvin the Alligator passed onto the Great Swamp in the Sky. An autopsy did not reveal the cause of death, but it did reveal that Alvin had spend his forty years at Southwestern with the wrong sexual identity. He was a she.
Faculty, staff, students, and alumni all shared memories regarding this cantankerous reptile. Flowers, poems, and letters were all posted outside her new facility, constructed during the building of the Beech Science Center. Alvin's remains are to be prepared by expert taxidermists in Derby to be displayed later this year.
Further information on Alvin's passing and the reactions of others can be found at the following links: Collegian Article, Collegian Editorial, Southwesterner Article, Alumni Web Page.
- Beta Beta Beta Initiates New Members. The biology honor society held its annual initiation ceremony in February initiating the largest number of new members in at least 10 years. The new full members initiated into the chapter were Pam Brown, Jamie Carpenter, Rachel Copeland, Nathan Eckert, Shelley Good, Matt Harris, Lori Lopez, Tanner Lundy, Melissa Strauss, Ali Wait, Dustin Wilgers, Kayoko Waki, and Randall Walz. New associate members were Emily Bauer, Jared Gerhardt, Kari Good, Amanda Jahn, and Margo Straub. For more information on the activities of BBB, please check our web site.
- Patrick Ross Increases his Reproductive Fitness. Our newest faculty member, Patrick Ross and his wife, Julie, became the proud parents of a healthy baby boy this spring. Samuel Akira Ross popped into the world on February 15th at 8 pounds, 10 ounces. If you would like to look at a baby that has been objectively judged to be the cutest in the state of Kansas, check out his web page.
- Jennifer Miller Hired as New Biology Faculty Member. Southwestern College and the Science Division are happy to announce the addition of a new faculty member to our ranks. Jennifer Miller conducted her doctoral studies at Penn State on the effects of ozone on leaf physiology. She will be joining us in the fall to teach Botany, Microbiology, Cell Biology, and Biotechnology Methods. Accompanying her on her move to Kansas will be her husband, Matt, who is the author of a number of published works on nature and wildlife. Jennifer will be filling the faculty position created by the impending retirement of Max Thompson.
Southwestern College Faculty Condemn Lack of Evolution in Science Standards. Faculty members at Southwestern College passed a resolution urging the State Board of Education to rescind its recent action concerning the science education standards. The state board has voted to remove and minimize references to evolution, cosmology, global warming, and population pressures in state science standards. The SC resolution was approved by a majority of those present at a regularly-scheduled faculty meeting. Similar resolutions have been passed at several Kansas’ public universities. Southwestern College is the first of Kansas’ church –affiliated colleges to pass such a resolution.
Three campus professors collaborated in organizing and writing the resolution—Patrick Ross, assistant professor of biology; Steve Rankin, assistant professor of religion and campus minister, and Philip Schmidt, professor of history. "One of the goals of passing this resolution is to show the rest of the country that the actions of the state Board of Education are not only unrepresentative of Kansas’ educational community, but that the board’s view is not shared by all faculty members of Kansas’ church-related colleges," Ross explained. Schmidt also noted that the state board’s actions threatened the academic freedom of SC graduates preparing to teach high school science classes, and could eventually become a threat to the academic freedom of college faculties. "This is not an official expression of college policy," says Dick Merriman, president of the college, "It is an exercise of faculty members’ rights to express such views, and I am committed to protecting those rights." The text of the resolution is available at this link.
To further educate the public about the relationship between science and religion, Ross, Schmidt, and Rankin organized a panel discussion on evolution in the fall. A strong turnout from campus and the surrounding community heard presentations from these three scholars all of which supported the teaching of evolution and its compatibility with Christianity. More information is available at this link..
PKAL Consultants Give Biology Department Rave Reviews. As part of the Biology Department's Self Study, a group of consultants from Project Kaleidoscope were invited to visit the campus this fall and assess our department. Project Kaleidoscope is a well recognized national alliance of individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to strengthening undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education. The consultants gave our department glowing reviews and commended our faculty, building, and curriculum. They were astounded at the quality of the educational experience that we are able to offer to undergraduates given our size. They presented us with a number of recommendations that validated some of our own concerns. We have already acted upon some of them, including the hiring of a new faculty member that has training in both plant biology and cellular/molecular biology and an application to the Kresge foundation for equipment funds.
Beta Beta Beta Sponsors Science Kids Day at SC. In November, local students from Lowell Elementary School came to tour Beech Science Center with the members of Beta Beta Beta as their hosts. The visiting students were able to see presentations on the many live and preserved animals that are a part of Southwestern's Biology Department, including fish, snakes, lizards, and Alvin the Alligator. All of the presentations were conducted by SC undergraduates who had a lot of fun sharing their knowledge with the next generation of biologists.
Sept 99
- Southwestern Biology and Biochemistry Students Participate in Summer
Research/Educational Activities
- Chad Killblaine was awarded a Research Experiences for Undergraduate Fellowship sponsored by the National Science Foundation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Chad worked on the optimization of a protein G column for use in a high performance amino-affinity chromatography system.
- Matt Perdue also was awarded a Research Experiences for Undergraduate Fellowship at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Matt's research project focused on the physical organic chemistry of transition metal using Fischer carbene complexes.
- Paul Mages and Maren Harding spent the summer at the Oregon Institute for Marine Biology taking classes on Invertebrate Zoology and Marine Birds & Mammals.
- Kayoko Waki was also on the West Coast at the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory, where she was enrolled in a class entitled Coastal Marine Field Ecology.
- Ephanie DeBey is currently participating in the Semester at Sea Program where she is taking a diversity of courses including Primate Biology (sea monkeys???), Behavioral Ecology, and Music of the Middle East & India. She will return to Southwestern for the spring semester.
- Shane Alford and Ashley Helfrich spent their summers participating in the University of Kansas School of Medicine Primary Care Summer Mentorship program. This program provides undergraduates interested in medicine the opportunity to receive a wide range of experiences in the medical care field.
- Charlie Hunter on the Oregon Coast. Charlie Hunter spent his summer at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology this summer teaching Invertebrate Zoology. He was accompanied by this daughters Claire and Jenna, along with Southwestern students Paul Mages and Maren Harding. Charlie's teaching assistant was Chris Knapp, a 1999 SC graduate who will be starting graduate work at the University of Oregon this fall.
- Orland Kolling, Former SC Professor of Chemistry Passes Away. Orland graduated from Friends University and earned graduate degrees in chemistry at Washburn University and Kansas State University. He worked as a research chemist for Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. for five years before becoming a member of the science faculty at Friends University and eventually moving on to teach chemistry, physics and geology at Southwestern College from 1959 to 1992. He was the first Oncley Professor of Chemistry and was a Beck Lecturer in science and religion. Orland was the author or co-author of over 100 research publications in the areas of physical and inorganic chemistry as well as monographs on curriculum modelling in higher education. He was a member of many scientific organizations, including the Kansas Academy of Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Chemical Society. Orland was named a National Science Fellow at Case Western Reserve University in 1962 and at Kansas State University in 1963 and a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists in 1970.
He made many fossil-collecting trips and was an authority on the invertebrate fossils of the Permian and Pennsylvanian rocks of Cowley and Elk counties and plant fossils in the Oligocene shales of Udall Cooperettes. Greg Zuck, SC's head librarian and a dear friend of Orland's, recounted his reminiscences of shared fossil hunts.
Orland was a close friend, a kind and very gentle man and scholar. We spent hours along the road cuts in Cowley County. His eyes were so keen and his patience extraordinary. I filled my plastic bags with what I thought were good specimens, while Orland did the same. He would show me his finds and I would show him mine. He was always instructive and acknowledging, but I would discard most of mine before we drove on to another site. He could read the land formations as well as the flowers and plants in bloom as we drove along. Our trip to the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado was especially rewarding. When Orland did not recognize a specimen, he interlibrary loaned books and articles in order to identifiy and index carefully and correctly his newfound treasure. He marked every kept specimen as to place and any other useful notes. He was always curious and studious, while always encouraging and supporting the learning of others.
- Bob Wimmer Empties Old Office. The final step in the move from Mossman to Beech occurred this summer as Bob Wimmer moved out of his old office. Stacks and stacks of textbooks were wheeled out of Mossman and then donated to Winfield's Alternative School. Amidst the dusty notes and speciments were a number of unique artifacts including a can of primordial soup and one of Wimmer's first lab practicals carved in a stone tablet.
- Patrick Ross Takes Part in Bioquest Conference on the Teaching of Evolution. Patrick Ross spent 10 days at the annual Bioquest Consortium Conference in Beloit, Wisconsin. This year's topic was the use of laboratory and other active learning exercises in Evolution courses. Participants included biologists, philosophers, and mathematicians from all over the globe. Pat developed several hands on activities that he plans on using in his Genetics & Evolution course as well as his LAS course, Life on Earth: A History.
- Max Thompson Begins his Last Year. Max Thompson announced his plans for retirement earlier this year after 32 years teaching at Southwestern College. Max's accomplishments as a biologist and educator are too numerous to mention. If you have stories or anecdotes about Max, please email them to pnross@sckans.edu. We are planning on devoting a section of the web site to a detailed profile on Max and his adventures in the spring. A profile of Max Thompson prepared by the school's newspaper can be found at this link.
- Evolution is Alive and Well at Southwestern College. This summer, the Kansas Board of Education passed a set of science teaching standards that minimized any references to evolution. It is still too early to know the long range consequences of this unfortunate decision. Despite the unenlightened actions of the state board, evolution continues to form the framework for biological education at Southwestern College. For more information on the history of teaching evolution at Southwestern, click here. For a more thorough discussion of the consequences of the Kansas BOE's decision, click here. Both articles were written by faculty member Patrick Ross.
- Max Thompson and Gene Young Attend Bird Meetings. Eugene Young and Max C. Thompson attended the annual meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union at Cornell University in August. Max was given the Marion Jenkinson Meritorious Service award for 14 years of service to the Union as the Assistant to the Treasurer. The AOU has 4,000 members. Eugene was attending a symposium on tower kills at the meeting and holds or has held several grants to study the role of TV and radio towers on the destruction of birds in flight. Gene is currently studying towers at Topeka for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the wind generators at the Jeffrey Energy Center for Western Resources. Towers are known to be a significant factor in the killing of migratory birds. Kills of a 1000 in one night or more are known to occur at the WIBW-TV tower in Topeka.
- Birds of a Feather Come Flocking to Southwestern. The Kansas Ornithological Society held it's spring meeting on the Southwestern College campus on May 5-7 with approximately 60 members in attendance. Gene Young and Max Thompson presented a workshop on shorebirds on Friday evening. Shawn Papon, a 1999 SC graduate presented a research paper entitled "Nutrient and Energetic Characteristics of Invertebrates from Two Sites in Kansas." Saturday and Sunday were spent on birding excursions in the area. Approximately 155 species were found by the members in Cowley and Sumner Counties.
- Southwestern Graduates Continue Their Education. This fall a number of our 1999 biology and biochemistry graduates will be continuing their education at a number of institutions. Shawn Papon '99 is already eight months into a Master's Degree program in Wildlife Biology at the Univesity of Missouri. Chris Knapp '99 is enrolled in a Master's Degree program in Physiology at the University of Oregon. Kyle Woodrow '99 will beginning his first year of divinity school at Princeton University. Students starting the long road to becoming a physician include Karissa Wright '98 and Marc Parrish '99, both attending the University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri; Karen Freeman '99 at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa; and Robin Wright '99 at the University of Kansas Medical School. Other students beginning their medical education include Heath Hamilton '99 (Medical Technician certification program at Wichita State University), Beth Erickson '99 (Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine), and Joel Smith '99 (Dentistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center). In addition, Ann Hawley '99 will be spending this year studying in Morocco as part of her Fulbright scholarship, furthering her interest in International Relations.
- Max Plunders Australian Roadkill Collection. Max was in Australia this summer cleaning out freezers for the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. Specimens that are valuable for the USA are trash in Australia and vice versa. Last summer (1998) the Australian Museum was in Kansas cleaning out SC's and KU's freezers. This is how museums frequently help out each other without taking specimens out of the wild. Most of the Australian material was animals that had hit windows, cars, found dead and brought in by the public. Likewise, Southwestern frequently acquires specimens from the public that we don't need but throw them in the freezer with data and hold them.
