Biology Department
Biology Department News 2002 -2003
May 2003
- Graduates and Honors
Feb 2003
- National BBB Award
- BBB Initiation
- Science Hall of Fame
Sept 2002
- Southwestern Biology Department welcomes new faculty member, Dr. Rick
Cowlishaw
Dr. Rick Cowlishaw is the latest addition to the biology department. Rick finished received his B.S. in biology from Oregon State University and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon this past spring. His dissertation research was on complex trophic interactions among microzooplankton in an estuarine community. Rick also has a lot of experience in conservation biology and applied ecology having worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service on salmon migration and the Forest Service on preservation of the Spotted Owl. In addition, Rick worked with the Peace Corps for 2 years in Guatemala on a soil conservation project. Rick will be joining SC for a one-year appointment. This fall, he is teaching botany and an integrative studies course called Plants, People, and Places. Joining Rick in Winfield are his wife Nancy and, his two-year-old son Evan.
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Dr. Michael Tessmer appointed as new Science Division Head
For the past two years, the Science Division has been led by Dr. Bob Gallup, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Physics. However, due to personnel changes in the mathematics department,Bob had to take on additional teaching duties and felt it was necessary to step down as Science Division Head. To fill his mighty shoes, Dr. Michael Tessmer, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been selected. Michael has been with the college since 1998 and has already received two awards for his teaching skills.
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Southwestern College hosts Summer Environmental Science Academy
Dr. Patrick Ross hosted a group of high school students for a week this summer as part of the campus’ Summer Academies Program. The group included representatives from Kansas and Colorado. Their week consisted of numerous field trips to nearby prairie and stream ecosystems, as well as discussions and research on ecological questions. Participating students learned quite a bit of natural history of these areas as well as how to boil and eat crawfish. Plans are already underway for next year. Interested parties should contact Dr. Ross at pnross@sckans.edu.
- Field Station on Dutch Creek Approved by Trustees
Last spring, the Board of Trustees approved a plan to begin the utilization of a ~240 acre property located 10 miles north of the college for use as a field station/laboratory. This property was part of a generous donation of land from the Moore family. In addition, the Trustees allocated $15,000 for necessary modifications and improvements. Thus far, the house was removed in the spring and a new main gate was added as well as a fence that separates Dutch Creek from the upland prairie areas. The remaining buildings have been cleaned up and remodeled (a new roof for the milking parlor and a new cement floor for the cattle shed) with the eventual goal of using them as laboratory and storage space. Planet Earth and Ecology students have already begun using the station for their fall semester lab projects. The areas that have been grazed in the past are being given a rest this year and will be burnt in the spring. We will also be reseeding the 40 acre soybean field with native prairie plants. We are also looking at plans (drawn up by Bill Mangold) for remodeling the barn for use as a classroom facility and sleeping/dining quarters. Currently, the barn is acting as home to a large barn owl that has remodeling ideas of her own.
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Biology and Biochemistry Students and Faculty Participate in Summer Research/Educational Activities
- Aron Fast was awarded an REU Fellowship at the University of Colorado. His research focused on new theories that propose that cells originated in the atmosphere.
- Luke Vierthaler was awarded an REU Fellowship at the University of Oregon. He conducted his research with Dr. Nora Terwilliger on the evolution of the blood protein hemocyanin among crustaceans. Luke also won the Circle the Bay race held in Coos Bay, which was won the previous year by another Moundbuilder researcher, Greg Bomhoff.
- Dr. Charles Hunter spent most of the summer with his daughter Claire at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) while teaching a new course entitled Adaptations of Marine Animals.
- A large number of students also spent their summer at OIMB taking a variety of courses, including Marine Birds & Mammals, Adaptations of Marine Organisms, and Marine Conservation Biology. Participating students were Aspen Ukens, Andrea Mohr, Marie Moses, Jake Steventon, Nick Sparacino, and Randall Walz.
- Dr. Patrick Ross attended the annual Animal
Behavior Society meetings in Bloomington, Indiana.
- Aron Fast, Junior Biochemistry Major, Wins Prestigious Award from University of Kansas
Medical Center
Every year, the University of Kansas Medical Center accepts up to six students from rural areas of Kansas into its Scholars in Primary Care Program. This year, one of the selected students was from Southwestern College: Aron Fast from Hesston, KS. The Scholars in Primary Care Program provides these select students with a longitudinal premedical curriculum through mentoring with physicians and community health research. Recipients are guaranteed admission into the University of Kansas School of Medicine if they successfully complete all of the requirements of the course. Of the 12 students that have been accepted into this program in the past two years, three of them have been Southwestern students, a remarkable achievement given our size relative to the KU and KSU applicant pool. Overall, Southwestern has placed 5 students into this program since its inception, more than any other Kansas school except for KU and KSU.
- Graduates Continue Their Education in Science.
This fall, a number of our biology and biochemistry graduates will be continuing their education at institutions of higher learning across the country. Students beginning graduate work in biology include: Shelley (Good) Eckert '02 (Southwest Missouri State University), Maren Harding '01 (Texas A&M - Corpus Christi), Pam Brown '02 (Southwest Missouri State University), James Larson '02 (Notre Dame University) and Rachel Copeland '02 (Fort Hays State University). Eric Hunt '00 will be beginning the MAE program in Physical Education at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD.
- Moundbuilders in Medicine: From Womb to Tomb,
Southwestern Students will be There.
The number of Southwestern alumni enrolled in medical schools this coming year is one of the largest in recent memory. The University of Kansas' School of Medicine will have three Southwestern alumni in attendance this fall: Ali Wait '02 (1st Year), Robin Walker '99 (4th Year), Stephany Berry '98 (5th Year), while the University of Health Sciences located in Kansas City will have eight Moundbuilders enrolled: Matt Harris '01 (2nd Year), David Elliott '01 (2nd Year), Spencer Duncan '01 (2nd Year), Karissa Wright '98 (3rd Year), Jason Siemens '00 (3rd Year), Angela Tran '00 (3rd Year), Daniel Miller '00 (3rd Year), and Marc Parrish '99 (4th Year). Other Southwestern medical students include Karen Freeman '99 (4th Year at Des Moines University), Heather (Jeffery) Prather '02 (1st Year at the Arizona School of Osteopathic Medicine), and Jamie Carpenter '01 (1st Year at the University of Indiana). In addition, graduates Dave Battin '98, Burt Humburg '98, and Damion Walker '98 will all be entering their first year of medical residency.
A number of other Southwestern alumni are pursuing their medical education in other fields. Beth Erickson '99 and John Nelson '00 are in the 4th and 3rd years, respectively, of Kansas State University's Veterinary Medicine Program. Jacob Tuttle '01 and Janet Walton '98 will both be beginning their first year of Wichita State University's Master's Program in Physical Therapy. Brandy Richardson '01 will be beginning her 2nd Year in a Master's Program in Occupational Therapy at Texas Women's University. Melissa (Strauss) Conard '02 and Joyelle Pickett '98 are both beginning their coursework in Nursing programs at Baker University and Yale University, respectively. Kelli Cox '02 will be beginning coursework towards a Master's degree in Speech Therapy at Oklahoma State University. Joel Smith '99 will be entering his 4th and final year of the Dental Program at the University of Nebraska. Derek Long '99 will be in his 3rd year of the Optometry program at the Northeastern State University in Talequah, OK. Randi Thompson '01 is beginning her 2nd year in the Forensic Science Master's Program at the University of Central Oklahoma.
- Southwestern Graduates Putting Their Biology Degrees to Work.
Several of our recent alumni have become involved in a variety of science related careers.
- Craig Lang '02 has been hired as an Education Specialist at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita.
- Jennifer Jensen '01 is working as a lab technician at Midwest City Hospital in Oklahoma.
- Randall Schaller '01 is working for Triad-Eye Medical Clinic in Tulsa, OK.
- Gina McVay '01 is working as a chemist for Streck Laboratories in Omaha, NE.
- Ephanie DeBey '00 is a student program specialist and biology instructor at Tulsa Community College.
- Corey Benton '00 is senior microbiologist at Abbott Laboratories in Austin, TX
- Kristen Sauer '98 is a research associate for Pharmacia
in St. Louis, MO.
