Small colleges’ large contribution to the STEM pipeline

Posted on May 2, 2014 by scotssciencescholars

While many students may not consider attending a small liberal arts college in order to study a STEM field, a recent study by the Council of Independent Colleges suggests that “small and mid-sized independent institutions are preparing students for careers and graduate study in STEM fields more efficiently than many public universities.”  

At Maryville College, about half of our alumni in STEM fields pursue graduate study or professional school within the first five years after graduation and over 90% are employed in their field. Some recent news stories highlighting the types of programs and opportunities open to a large number of MC students may be the key to why this is true.

While lots of students spend time at the beach during spring break, a group of biology students went a step further, traveling to the Caribbean Island of Bonaire to study ecology and perform research.  You can read the full story here:

Maryville Students Dive into Caribbean Ecology

This video about the trip is a taste of this amazing experience:

Closer to home, students did work in the Great Smokies National Park learning about macroinvertebrate sampling and identification.  Maryville’s proximity to the National Park provides a wealth of opportunities for our students to work and play.

 

Students with Dr. Dave Unger.

MC Students Evaluate the health of Great Smokies National Park Streams

Finally, the work of three Maryville alumni continues to impact the herpetology community.  The results of a study of turtle genetics  that began as a Maryville College senior study has resulted in a publication in the journal of Linnean Society, the oldest extant biology society.

Marly Kalis, whose senior study began the work published in the Journal of the Linnean Society.

Trio of MC alums digs into turtle DNA, settles decades-old controversy

 

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Do your research

Posted on March 13, 2014 by scotssciencescholars

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Congratulations to Sarah Hagans whose poster was accepted at the Blue Ridge Undergraduate Research Conference.  Most S3’s are working on their  research projects now, but Sarah became interested in this project and wanted to begin last fall so she has a bit of a head start.

Here is the abstract of her poster:

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“It has been reported that some species of spiders are fluorescent, however very little is known about the evolutionary significance or the chemical nature of fluorescent compounds in Opiliones. These specimens were captured using black light in Cusuco National Park, Honduras.  They glowed most intensely under ultraviolet (UV) light. The fluorescence was localized to specific pattern on the carapace and was distributed intensely throughout the palps. It appears that the legs are somewhat fluorescent, although hairs on the legs may mask the fluorescence to some extent.  Carapace, palps, and legs from 39 specimens were homogenized half in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and the other half in 95% Ethanol, and the extracts were monitored for fluorescence using a fluorescence plate reader and TLC.  The results of this assay revealed the fluorescent compounds remained with insoluble material after PBS extraction but not in Ethanol.  Studies are ongoing to characterize the fluorophores and we plan to compare them to other fluorophores identified in other arachnids. We would like to summarize these preliminary findings in a poster presentation.”

We wish Sarah luck this weekend!

Contributed by Maria Siopsis, Co-director of the Scots Science Scholars

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