Biology

Students Connect Science and Humanities through Interdisciplinary Research

Chris Schuchert ’16 stood in a semi-dark room, arms outstretched, while Laura Holesh ’16 snapped his photo.

Leanne Siwicki ’15 repeated the same pose, with Holesh capturing her image as well.

Although the two theater majors looked as if they were practicing for an upcoming performance, they actually were serving as subjects for a psychological study. Holesh and Annie Utterback ’16 are conducting this independent study with Associate Professor of Psychology Aimee Knupsky and Associate Professor of English M. Soledad Caballero.

According to Utterback, a psychology major and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies minor from Sewickley, Pa., the project came out of an interdisciplinary class she took last semester called “Cognitive Humanities – Expressions of Emotion: When Psychology and Literature Converge” with Professors Knupsky and Caballero. The course was created through the support of a New Directions Grant from the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

“The class was about the study of emotion during the 19th century to present day and the reciprocal relationship between science and the humanities,” Utterback says. “It was about how the study of emotion was shaped by literature and theater and medical records. That provided a basis for our project, where Laura and I are studying facial recognition and emotion.”

To conduct this research, Utterback and Holesh selected 20 poses from a manual on gesture and emotion written in 1806 by Henry Siddons, an English actor and theatrical manager now remembered as a writer on gesture. Each page in the book shows an actor making a gesture, with each page labeled with an emotion like “devotion,” “happiness,” anger,” “despair,” or “enthusiasm.”

Utterback and Holesh then asked theater majors Schuchert and Siwicki to recreate the gestures from Siddons’ book while they took photos of each pose.

The student researchers then will project the photos onto a screen and ask study participants to choose which emotion the actors are expressing. Utterback and Holesh will use equipment in the College’s eye-tracking lab to study where participants are looking on the photos in order to make their guesses.

“The eye-tracker will produce what is similar to a ‘heat map,’ allowing us to see where people are looking in the image and for how long,” says Holesh, a neuroscience and psychology double major and biology minor from Gibsonia, Pa. “This will help us to capture their thought process to figure out what emotion it is.”

“We’ll then be able to see if they’re guessing the emotion that the book said it was and how that’s been congruent over time. We’ll also be able to see what part of the gesture is cuing them to the emotion,” Utterback adds. “It will be interesting to see how emotion has developed over several centuries.”

One of the unique components of this study is that it allows the students to conduct interdisciplinary research, meaning the study involves both science (psychology) and humanities (English and theater).

“The wave of the future is really interdisciplinary research, and Allegheny is leading the way by offering research with interdisciplinary courses,” Professor Knupsky says. “It’s about getting students to realize that humanities and natural sciences really are asking the same questions.”

“I’m very interested in the sciences, but I’m also interested in English and theater. So I really like the interdisciplinary focus,” Utterback says. “I like connecting all these subjects. It requires critical thinking and being creative to tie all these things together. It’s been an eye-opening experience.”

Even though the project is not yet complete, Holesh says she already has learned a lot.

“This project definitely has helped me to read scientific literature, analyze it, and see the process of thinking. The creative process also has helped me with my junior seminar,” she says.

“The study has helped me to realize that psychology and science are a lot different than what I thought they were in high school,” Utterback adds.” Science is a study and a way of thinking more than content. You can scientifically study anything.”

The pair also likes the ability to do hands-on research as an undergraduate student.

“I don’t believe other undergrads are doing research like we are and shaping it in the way we are. Laura and I are involved in shaping what the project is and what we’re researching,” Utterback says.

“One of the main reasons I came to Allegheny was to do research, because I knew the opportunities were incredible. Coming in freshman year, I started doing research. At other schools, I don’t think that’s the experience students get,” Holesh adds.

In addition, they appreciate the close relationships they have developed with professors at Allegheny.

“I truly value my relationships with my professors,” Holesh says. “I adore talking to them about their research. They are more than willing to have you come into the lab and see things and be hands-on.”

Holesh and Utterback plan to continue their research next semester and may use this work as a springboard for their comprehensive projects.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Co-authors Amanda Klemmer ’09, Emily Thornton ’10, Marieke Perchik ’11, Cameron Eddy ’12, and Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Scott Wissinger presented the paper “Density-dependent Cross-Links Between Detritus Processing and Benthic Algae in Shallow Ponds and Wetlands” at the 2014 Joint Aquatic Societies Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Klemmer is pursuing a Ph.D. in Aquatic Ecology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Thornton, a M.S. in Fisheries at University of Washington, Seattle; and Eddy, a M.S. in Biology at John Carroll University. Perchik recently published research in the Journal of Experimental Biology and Ecology that she conducted while at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Lee Coates, Associate Professor of Psychology Aimee Knupsky, and Associate Professor of English Soledad Caballero recently published an article titled “Charting a Required, Senior Capstone: Diverse Scaffolding for Transformative Experiences,” CURQ on the Web, Summer 2014, 34(4):10-15.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By CARSON REY, Contributing Writer
September 18, 2014
The Campus

Ronald Mumme, professor of biology at Allegheny College for 25 years, recently studied the hooded warbler bird species. He began his study on the hooded warbler in 2010 because of its similarities to his previous research on a different species called the slate-throated redstart.

“I’m interested in how some species of birds use striking plumage patterns to actually startle insects,” Mumme said on his interest in the hooded warbler. “Usually when you see birds’ plumage ornaments you think it’s some kind of social or sexual signal, but I’m interested in the situations where it’s not that.”

Mumme composed a paper on the subject of the hooded warbler’s foraging techniques and the research he did that was published in April earlier this year by “The Auk: Ornithological Advances,” and appeared in the “BirdWatching Magazine” in August.

Read the full story.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By ANGELA MAURONI, Science Editor
September 18, 2014
The Campus

Rebecca Dawson, assistant professor of biology, collaborated with Laura Wheeler Poms, a professor of psychology at George Mason University, to create and publish an undergraduate epidemiology textbook.

Newly printed on Aug. 17, Dawson’s textbook, “Understanding Epidemiology: Concepts, Skills & Applications,” is currently only available at Allegheny College and George Mason University.

Dawson’s textbook focuses on teaching students to think critically about global health issues with the use of exercises and case studies.

After being unable to find an introductory textbook to epidemiology, Dawson and Poms came together to create one of their own.

“It’s written for an audience who not only want to do epidemiology, but also for those who know nothing about it and may never study it again,” Dawson explained.

Read the full story.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Melissa Mattwig ’17

This past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to represent Allegheny College and Creek Connections at Osa Conservation in Costa Rica for two months. The primary reason for my trip was to conduct global health research on the water quality on road transects and in the nearby town of Puerto Jimenez.

With this data I was able to get an idea of the effects that certain activities, such as deforestation and agriculture, had on the surrounding ecosystems.

In addition to my research, I also was able to help Jim Palmer, associate professor of biology and environmental science and Creek Connections director, with chemical testing and macroinvertebrates when La Paz International School (La Paz, Bolivia) came down to Osa for a week. It was really great to incorporate all the Creek Connections skills I had developed throughout my first year as a Creeker and put them to use in helping kids develop their own research projects during their stay.

After La Paz left, I was able to use my spare time to participate in the sea turtle program at Osa and often went on turtle patrols to keep track of the sea turtles that frequented the beaches.

Throughout the summer, I was able to meet people from all over the world and seized the educational opportunities given to me when other educational groups came to Osa to utilize the rich environment.

I am so grateful for the experience, and I really hope I can travel back to Costa Rica and continue to develop the relationship that Creek Connections has in Central America!

Melissa Mattwig is a biology and environmental science double major with a French and Spanish double minor. Her project was funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that supported the development of the Allegheny College Global Health Studies program.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professor of Biology Lisa Whitenack was elected to the board of directors for the American Elasmobranch Society, a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance the scientific study of living and fossil sharks, rays, and their relatives and promote education, conservation, and the wise utilization of natural resources. In addition, Whitenack’s research on performance and pinch force in stone crab claws has been included in the exhibit “The Machine Inside: Biomechanics,” which is currently at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and will be touring North America and Europe through 2017. You can explore the exhibit at https://biomechanics.fieldmuseum.org/.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Karen Kane / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What would you do to save a life?

Two recent North Allegheny High School graduates are willing to jump into a freezing Allegheny River, run the Pittsburgh marathon and even bungee jump off Victoria Falls in Africa.

Jessica “Jessi” Mazzoni, 21, of Marshall and Natalie Geer, 21, of McCandless have teamed up on a fundraising project that couples the silly and sublime, all in an effort to save the lives of some of the neediest people in the world.

Ms. Mazzoni, a senior at Allegheny College double-majoring in biology and global health, and Ms. Geer, a junior at Ohio Wesleyan University majoring in early childhood education, are determined to raise enough money to renovate a medical clinic in Zimbabwe.

They’re taking an increasingly popular avenue known as crowd funding, listing their fundraising efforts and goals on the indiegogo.com website that allows Internet users to scan the website listing an array of funding appeals and adopt an effort that suits them.

The young women are pledging a range of reciprocal activities based on the amount of money pledged to their effort, from double clapping and making shoutouts to donors while taking the Pittsburgh Polar Bear Plunge in December to hosting a luncheon at a restaurant of a benefactor’s choice.

It’s all contingent on achieving their fundraising goal of at least $30,000 by Oct. 24. And while the young women will be pleased if that goal is achieved, they’re really hoping to meet it tenfold and then some: $347,000. And, if they do, they’ve promised to bungee jump off Victoria Falls — an African landmark near Zimbabwe.

The roots of their efforts began half a world away at the Nyadire United Methodist Mission, an outreach of the United Methodist Church. The mission property in Zimbabwe supports a half-dozen outlying medical clinics. The mission is in partnership with the nonprofit group The Nyadire Connection, known by its acronym TNC, which is seeking to renovate the half-dozen medical clinics. Ms. Mazzoni and Ms. Geer are determined to raise enough money to complete one top-to-bottom medical clinic overhaul.

Why would they pose such a challenge for themselves?

Ms. Geer, the daughter of Paul and Faith Geer, summed it up: “I couldn’t help myself.”

The young women’s story begins, in a sense, with Ms. Geer and a dinner-table conversation with her mom when the young woman was 16. A woman they knew who was associated with Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park was leading a trip to the Nyadire Mission in Zimbabwe, and Ms. Geer wanted to go. She stayed for three weeks on the mission property, which hosts a hospital, a teachers college, a nurses college, primary and secondary schools, an orphanage and single-family homes.

“I got to know the people, the community. I fell in love with it all,” she recalled.

From the day she returned, she wanted to go back and set out to raise the funds to do so. But, political climates changed and when she was ready to go a year ago, it was deemed unsafe to travel there. So, the return trip was postponed to spring/summer 2014.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mazzoni’s parents, John and Nancy Mazzoni, heard at Dutihl United Methodist Church in Cranberry, of the TNC effort and mentioned it to their daughter. At about the same time, Ms. Mazzoni learned of her former schoolmate’s plans. The trip to the Nyadire Mission seemed to fit both with her educational interests in global health and her spiritual interests as a member of the United Methodist Church.

The young women left the U.S. on May 12 and stayed for two months. Initially, they traveled with a Methodist group from the South Hills but stayed on after the group members left.

Ms. Geer spent her days in a second-grade classroom, volunteering and working with the teacher. Ms. Mazzoni worked in the mission hospital. Ms. Geer also got to see the hospital up close when she was treated there for malaria.

“I went to the hospital and it was a very functional hospital,” she said. The same could not be said for the outlying medical clinics she and Ms. Mazzoni toured. Located miles from the mission property, the clinics were dilapidated by any standard — except for one. The Chikwizo clinic had been successfully renovated through the TNC project, at a cost of about $347,000, and was dedicated July 25.

“It was very impressive,” Ms. Geer said.

The young women determined that the Nyahuku Clinic, about three hours from the Nyadire Mission, was in the worst condition. Surrounded by landmines from the independence war of the 1980s, the clinic is a three-room structure that’s being eaten away by termites, Ms. Mazzoni said.

“It’s incredibly small and overcrowded. Children who need vaccines are seen outside the clinic on a bench because there’s no room inside. The walls are falling apart. The ceilings are falling down. A toilet is a hole in the ground, and medical waste is thrown in an open pit behind the clinic. It’s so remote there’s no cell phone signal. There’s no running water or electricity,” Ms. Mazzoni said.

She was saddened to see the quality of health care so low in the 21st century, Ms. Mazzoni said. “People are suffering and dying from diseases that can be easily treated. I saw someone pass away at the [mission] hospital from a respiratory problem that, ideally, should have been treated [successfully], but the resources weren’t available,” she said. And that care was superior to that available at the outlying clinics, she said.

When the young women got back to the U.S., they agreed they needed to do something. The something was crowd funding.

Ms. Mazzoni did research into which efforts were most successful and determined that they should mix the seriousness of their goal — to renovate a medical clinic — with some fun and silliness, said Ms. Mazzoni. They determined that potential benefactors on indiegogo.com “liked to see young people involved in an adventure and doing some fun and silly things,” Ms. Geer explained.

“Basically, we made a website with a video that shows that we’re willing to do ridiculous and crazy things to get money for this project,” she said. And all contributions are tax deductible.

Their site can be reached at www.indiegogo.com/project/the-adventure-for-clinics.

For a $22 donation, Ms. Mazzoni and Ms. Geer will be videoed double clapping as they make the Pittsburgh Polar Bear Plunge in December, if they meet their total goal. For $100, the benefactor gets a shoutout while the women jump into the river.

For a donation of $375, the donor gets “before and after times two” — a video of the medical clinic before and after renovation, and a video of the two jumping into the freezing river, before and after. For $750, the young women will take the donor to lunch, give him or her a thank you note, and present that person with a video of the plunge.

The official goal is $30,000 by Oct. 24, but they really want $347,000. If they reach their goal, they will take the Plunge; if they hit $100,000, they’ll run the Pittsburgh marathon; and if they achieve $300,000, they’ll swing or bungee jump off Victoria Falls.

Their campaign began Sept. 8 and within four days, they had raised more than $8,000.

The young women said they expect Zimbabwe and its people to be a part of their lives forever.

“It just so happens my heart is encrypted with Zimbabwe,” Ms. Geer said.

As for Ms. Mazzoni, she would like to return and begin her professional life there, aiming to bring better health care to a country she, too, loves.

Information: https://www.nyadire.org/.

Karen Kane: kkane@post-gazette.com or at 724-772-9180.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

By Kathleen Prosperi ’11

Jim Wible ’71, co-founder and president of American Colors in Sandusky, Ohio, has long believed in the potential of Alleghenians. Not only does he advocate for students as a College trustee, he believes the Allegheny graduate to be a quality investment for his company, having recruited and hired Gators since the company’s inception in 1975.

“I know that the skills it takes to handle the pressure of getting a degree from Allegheny apply to the business world as well,” says Wible. His company provides high-quality liquid pigment systems and other products to the coatings, composites, plastics and allied industries. It serves customers from two manufacturing facilities, one in Sandusky, and the other in Lebanon, Tenn.

Finding committed, long-term employees has produced challenges, and a need for change has blossomed into what appears to be the next revolutionary idea in corporate recruitment.

Jim Fitch, assistant director of career education at Allegheny, explains: “Jim (Wible) came to me and proposed hiring a group of graduating seniors as a team, interviewing and hiring them as one unit … a unit with a variety of majors, skills and talents.”

The hope is to promote future success and satisfaction at American Colors through pre-existing, forged relationships while nurturing a critical mass of Allegheny alumni who contribute as employees.

Invited to apply as a group, Tyler Hogya ’14 (Economics/Computer Science), Jordan Encarnacion ’14 (Chemistry/Economics), John O’Donnell ’14 (Economics/Communication Arts), RC Kunig ’14 (Biology/Economics/Psychology), and Elliott Hasenkopf ’14 (Chemistry/Economics/Biology) were one of four cohorts to express interest.

“Over the past four years, we have become great friends through living, working and playing together,” said Hasenkopf.

“Being able to come right out of college and enter the real world with four of your best friends seemed surreal. I was extremely surprised to hear of this opportunity, mainly because I’ve never heard of such a strategy before. It was new to all of us,” O’Donnell added.

The idea was new to everyone involved, including the hiring team, which was comprised of Wible, Matt Kosior, chief operating officer, and Kayla Beatty ’12.

“We saw huge, exceptional talent,” says Wible. “This group, the one we chose, was the most enthusiastic and seemed to have a cohesiveness that I liked.”

The benefits will be twofold—for the graduates and for American Colors.

“Over the last few years, after we hired students from Allegheny, we noticed they would say, ‘I came here [to Sandusky, Ohio] and didn’t know anyone. I’m having trouble getting involved in the community and finding it tough to meet people,’” says Wible.

Although other Allegheny graduates were pleased with American Colors, assimilation in other areas of their lives proved to hamper their overall happiness. That won’t be the case with this group. “These graduates will now get to go into the real world with an immediate support system. We hope this will provide them with a smooth transition into the workplace with a sense of belonging,” Wible says.

The students also see the benefits: “When entering the professional workplace, it is essential, not only that you have many positive relationships, but that you continue to build upon them while continually adding new ones. Our pre-established relationship will also allow us to feel comfortable more quickly in our working environment,” says Kunig.

“We see this as a potential for longevity for the company, as well,” Wible adds. “We are hoping that all five of the new hires will like and form a long relationship with American Colors.”

“I believe our team chemistry will translate into a professional environment seamlessly. Not only are we able to achieve goals together, but we also challenge each other. I think the ability to bring in five new workers who already work well together will serve American Colors well, especially in project-oriented tasks,” says Hasenkopf.

At this point, the future of group recruitment can only be imagined. After all, it is not the norm. The benefits can be seen as huge, though, for all parties involved.

“We’re hoping that it can become a model … that other employers who can do this will think, ‘What a great idea. …Why don’t we do this too?’” says Fitch. “If we had 20 employers who did that, we would have huge diversity in the types of job opportunities we are providing to students.”

President James H. Mullen, Jr. adds: “Jim is a great Alleghenian who has long been committed to affording opportunities to our students. In hiring this very talented group of our graduates from diverse disciplines, he is at once implementing a very innovative business approach and reinforcing the strength of Allegheny’s liberal arts curriculum.”

No matter what comes from this unique hiring strategy, the future is bright for American Colors’ new team. The team began its first day at American Colors. Each person had their own job description: Encarnacion, Kunig and Hasenkopf are project chemist trainees and Hogya and O’Donnell are operations trainees. However, it should be pointed out that they will have the opportunity to work on a project together as a team, to exhibit abilities learned at Allegheny.

As graduation day approached in May, Hasenkopf reflected, “As graduation is upon us, everyone has started to say goodbye to Allegheny and the friends they have made here, but we have this amazing opportunity which will allow us to see our closest friends every day. We are all very excited to hit the ground running and apply our Allegheny College educations to our endeavors with American Colors.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Assistant Professor of Global Health Studies and Biology Becky Dawson has published the textbook Understanding Epidemiology: Concepts, Skills & Applications, which teaches undergraduate students the skills required to think critically about public health problems. The text takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving epidemiology problems through case studies and exercises. Erica Bryson ’15 and Elizabeth Schafer ’17 contributed to the development of the text.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research