CSC students gain science research experience

Original findings on these and a variety of other subjects formed the basis of presentations by 24 Chadron State College physical science students at the 135th annual meeting of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences conference in April.

The CSC contingent presenting at this year’s NAS conference was the largest in several years and follows the recent growth in students majoring in physical science, according to Dr. Mary Keithly, associate professor of chemistry. The degree requires a research component and a conference presentation, she said.  

The projects begin in a student’s junior year when they work with a mentor to select a topic that allows collection of quantitative data and contributes new information to a field of study. In their senior year the students collect and analyze the data and write a thesis that they present at the conference.

The research that Crimsen Blankenship, of Rangely, Colorado, conducted on the effect of hallucinogenic pharmaceuticals on animal behavior began last fall when CSC purchased the cockroaches (Gromphadorhina Portentosa) as a possible alternative to fruit flies for studying neurological affects, said Keithly.

The two to three inch long insects are good for research because they are easy to observe and docile with people but loud and territorial, according to Dr. Jeffrey Kiiskila, assistant biology professor.

As it turns out the roaches may not be useful subjects for the type of project that Blankenship conducted. Although they became more aggressive on Benadryl and more passive on Robitussin, the roaches showed little interest in running a maze to test the drugs’ effect on memory, Kiiskila said.

“It may point to the inability to use them as a model if you cannot get them motivated by food to run any trials,” said Keithly. 

But the project still had educational value, according to Kiiskila.

“The quality of the research was good for a starter experiment. Philosophically (Blankenship) learned that Benadryl did not align with our expectations whereas Robitussin did,” he said. “I think the biggest take away is learning about experimental design…and what to do when things go wrong.”

For his investigation into the effects of drugs like adrenaline on heart tissue Elijah Huntington, of Rapid City, S.D, used thinly sliced segments of a freshly harvested rat heart which he placed in an oxygenated solution with a device that delivered an electrical current to keep the tissue alive by mimicking a beating heart.

Huntington created the device, called a Bioelectrophysiological Cardiac Model Apparatus (BECMA) himself, based on a design he found, said Keithly. His BECMA cost half the price of the original design, she added.

Huntington’s experiments showed predicted increases in heart function with the drug treatments, and that tissues treated repeatedly showed faster declines, according to Keithly. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and complete a full statistical analysis, she said.

Among other research topics were a study on firefighter face mask effectiveness by Alexis Kramer, of St. Paul, and an analysis by Morgan Ekwall of Yoder, Wyoming on how a person’s head movement is affected by the way they walk.

Keithly said research projects combine students’ knowledge and lab skills gained from CSC coursework to real world problems and presenting at the conference provides them with important communication skills.

Students also realize that conducting research and presenting at the conference has lasting value, said Keithly.

“Developing and completing their own research projects will make them more competitive in their graduate or professional programs,” she said. 

Students and their presentation titles