by Amy Henderson
Daily Lobo
The fizzy volcanoes and wobbly planet models of middle school, science-fair glory are distant memories to students in the UNM Biology Department.
Biology students study a wide variety of subjects from the tiny bacteria in Antarctic lakes to the grand old cottonwoods along the Rio Grande Bosque. Their research and discoveries will be on display in Castetter Hall today at the Biology Department's 13th-annual Research Day.
Though research is necessary for scientific progress, it cannot stand alone, said Maggie Werner-Washburne, a biology professor. She said she tries to give her students a broad understanding of how to think, write and speak scientifically. The day is important because the students will have an opportunity to practice their communication skills, Werner-Washburne said.
"It doesn't do any good to study it if you can't communicate it," said Cynthia Tech, a graduate student presenting research on behavior in the brightly colored pupfish of Southwest rivers.
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With major scientific discoveries, Tech said people get credit for things not because they thought of it first, but because they communicated it best.
For many undergraduates, Research Day is the first experience in formally talking about their research, Werner-Washburne said. She added that students often go on to present at national and international conferences or use their research to write a thesis.
It's better for students to make all the mistakes here in front of friends than it is for them to go out and do it later, she said.
In a supportive setting like Research Day, Mary Harner, a UNM graduate student said others can receive positive criticism. She is collaborating with another graduate student, Teresa Tibbets, on a poster about the leaf chemistry of cottonwood trees.
By combining data, they have twice as much information, but they are coming up with unexpected patterns, Harner said. Her partner said presenting a poster is helpful for their research because they will be able to get feedback from people in the department and also people from other departments that come by.
"It's nice to get a new perspective," Tibbets said.
Amanda Hodson, a UNM senior, presented part of her research on desert grasshoppers on a poster last spring. She said grasshoppers can regulate their body temperature behaviorally by basking in the sun to warm up and moving to the shade to cool down.
"The really cool thing is that when you infect them with certain pathogens (disease-causing organisms), they will actually give themselves a behavioral fever to fight it off," she said.
Hodson said this research has implications in biocontrol, a practice that controls pests with naturally occurring organisms. If the pest, in this case the grasshopper, can fight off an infection from a biocontrol agent, it is not as effective, she said.
Hodson has completed research and has prepared a formal scientific paper that she will share in an oral presentation.
The event is open to the public, and the day will end with guest speaker Paul Ewald addressing "The Startling Scope of Infectious Disease. Or, Why Cats and Kissing are More Dangerous than SARS."
