2005 ISF Awards

USING TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOP LABORATORY COMPONENTS FOR A HYBRID ENVIRMENTAL BIOLOGY COURSE
Clarke College
Dr. Andrea Bixler & Lisa M. Landgraf
Award: $1400

We plan to develop a hybrid Environmental Biology course for the evening adult-education program at Clarke College. Hybrid courses meet less frequently than face-to-face courses and can be beneficial to students, especially non-traditional evening students, by easing their on-campus obligations. However, we feel that the laboratory and field components of such and Environmental Biology course would suffer. Traditionally, students in the face-to-face Environmental Biology class visit local sites of environmental interest, such as the landfill and wastewater treatment plant. Through the use of digital video recording and editing technology, we can provide virtual field trips and interviews with experts in environmental areas. Students experiencing Environmental Biology in the face-to-face format will also benefit from virtual tours of sites that are far from Dubuque. For the hybrid course, we will also develop animations to aid student learning of difficult concepts that would otherwise be explained face-to-face. Moreover, the availability of technology will aid student learning as they use the equipment to create their own presentations. We believe that the provision for laboratory and field components in a hybrid course will make the content come alive for students and improve environmental awareness in the State of Iowa.

DICKCISSEL EXPOSURE TO DDT: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION AND COWBIRD PARATISM
Department of Biology, Simpson College
Brian D. Peer, Ph.D.
Award: $4,722

Dickcissels (Spiza Americana) are prairie nesting songbirds whose populations are declining. Ironically, Dickcissels are considered agricultural pests in Venezuela where the majority of the population overwinters. Farmers there admit to spraying Dickcissels with DDT. DDT is well known for having caused the precipitous decline of several birds prior to being banned in 1972. DDT interferes with a bird's ability to synthesize calcium carbonate, a necessary component of eggshells. Eggs become thin and crush under the weight of incubating adults. Hence, Dickcissels may be declining due to DDT exposure. Preliminary evidence suggests DDT in their bodies in their eggshells causing them to thin. Contributing to their decline is the cowbird parasitism. The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is an avian brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, relying on these hosts to raise their offspring. Paratisism is costly to hosts because they raise fewer of their own offspring, and as a result, some have evolved defenses against parasitism such as rejection of the cowbird eggs. One of the greatest enigmas in avian conservation is why so few hosts reject cowbird eggs. Dickcissels are unusual because they sometimes reject cowbird eggs, but not always. Dickcissel is small and cannot grasp cowbird eggs between their mandibles like other rejecters. Instead, they must attempt to puncture the cowbird egg and then remove them. However, cowbirds have evolved thick eggshells. As a consequence, host bills often deflect off of cowbird eggs into their own causing them to break. This damage may be exacerbated in Dickcissels because of their thinning eggs. Dickcissels can raise some of their own nestlings when parasitized, so the costs of rejection may exceed the costs of parasitism making acceptance the best strategy. In this study, I propose to determine the endpoint effects of DDT on Dickcissels, including determining whether or not eggs crush under the weight of incubating adults, whether DDT causes abnormal behavior in adults, whether DDT and thinning eggshells make Dickcissls more likely to accept parasitism which would provide an explanation for this seemingly non-optimal behavior in this bird.

QAUNTUM IDENTITY OF PHOTONS: ANTI -COINCIDENCE STUDIES OF TWO-PHOTON INTERFERENCE
Grinnell College
Mark B. Schneider
Award: $4,930

I propose to extend some fascinating experiments that show interference between two independent photons through coincidence measurements (two signals in tow different detectors at the same time) by looking at anti-coincidence measurements (one signal in one detector at a time when no signal appears in the other detector). These measurements together will give insight into the nature of the photon as a quantum particle-in particular, that while photons are always emitted singly and absorbed singly, the particle detected may have components from two (or more) emitted particles. In other words, between emission and detection, these particles merge into an electromagnetic soup so that the particle detected cannot be identified with a particular particle emitted. I hope that these experiments will help physicists think differently about the photon, and I hope to provide easily explained and replicated experiments that will aid in the teaching of quantum theory to physics students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This also is a change of research specialty for me, from experimental nuclear physics to quantum optics, and I believe ISF funding could play a crucial role in launching this new area for me and making me competitive for other funding sources.

ASSESSING TRACE METALS CONTAMINATION IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER WITH A BIOINDICATOR
University of Dubuque
Dr. Chelsung Kim
Award: $4,000

A pilot research project is being proposed to evaluate the effects of local abandoned lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) mining areas, containing primarily galena (PbS) and (ZnS) minerals, on the trace metal contamination of the upper Mississippi River . Research will focus on the mobility of trace metals and their bioaccumulation in the bioindicator of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha).

Water, sediments, and aquatic organisms will be collected from likely trace metal-exposed areas as well as from less-disturbed areas. The samples will be analyzed for various trace metals such as arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and (Zn) to assess the impact of mining residuals on the upper Mississippi River . Trace metals in sediments as a function of depth will be determined to evaluate the patterns of introduction of trace metals in the river. Extra zebra mussels will be collected to be utilized to evaluate the bio-accumulation of trace metals by exposing them to aquatic environments near the mining areas for short periods of time.

Part of the proposed research will be integrated into environmental science class activities for majors to provide students with hands-on learning experiences and to enhance their academic achievement. Research results will be disseminated through various formats, serving as valuable resources for scientists and local residents to better understand the long-term effects of abandoned mining on the Mississippi River and to predict more accurately the future trace metal contamination of the river from the abandoned mining areas.

INTEGRATING TEACHING AND RESEARCH: BIOCHEMISTRY
Loras College
David Speckhard
Award: $3,425

This proposal seeks $3,425 to support the research efforts of four students and one faculty member at Loras College . The project involves preparing, isolating, and characterizing small recombinant chimeric nucleases. Dr. Sonay Franklin of the University of Iowa has pioneered the system we will use and has offered to collaborate on interesting variants we find. We will integrate the project into two biochemistry classes (impacting an additional 8-10 students per year) and extend the work on construction and characterization of variants into students research projects, done at Loras College , which will involve collaboration with Dr. Franklin. The integration of undergraduate research, undergraduate courses, and off campus collaboration is a unique and powerful way to engage undergraduate students in high quality scientific research and to encourage them to master technical material and consider technical careers. Technically trained professionals are essential for the future of Iowa and the nation.

ENHANCING BIOLOGY & CHEMISTRY INSTRUCTION IN IOWA HIGH SCHOOLS
Price Laboratory Schools, Department of teaching, UNI
Dr. Jody Stone
Award: $3,500

The objective of this proposal is to enhance biology and chemistry instruction in Iowa High Schools by providing materials an training for Iowa teachers who attend either a biology or a chemistry graduate workshop at the University of Northern Iowa between the summer of 2005 and 2006. Courses will be offered through the UNI Science Education Department and taught by Dr. Jody Stone and Dr. Lyn Countrymen. The courses will allow teachers to carry out special laboratories specifically designed to enhance critical thinking skills, while teaching important biology and chemistry concepts. Each laboratory sequence carried out by participating will be followed by a content/debriefing session in which the important biology and chemistry concepts covered in each lab are specifically addressed. The funds from this grant would provide each participant with a BIOMES or CRISTAL manual containing over 100 cycle-based laboratories, as well as sets of materials they can take home to use directly with students in their high school biology and chemistry classrooms. Funding would also would be used to help defray they cost of consumable chemicals used during the workshops. This particular course format, including providing materials for direct use in classrooms, has been employed previously and has been shown to greatly increase the chances of teachers successfully implementing a more laboratory-based curriculum in their high school science classrooms.

PROBEWARE UPGRADE AND EXPANSION FOR THE UNI CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES IN SCIENCE TEACHING METHODS COURSE
University of Northern Iowa
Aaron Spurr
Award: $3,605

All secondary science teaching majors at the University of Northern Iowa are required to take the science education methods course Current Technologies in Science Teaching (CTST). This course provides students with an overview of the technologies they are likely to encounter in a typical school and what technologies are available to them to enhance their science teaching. The types of technologies students are exposed to include web search techniques, web site construction, graphical organizing software, spreadsheet software, grading software, audiovisual equipment, graphing calculators, digital photography, presentation software, and web based activities.

In addition to the aforementioned technologies, a major emphasis of the course is on the use of calculator-based and computer-based data collection equipment. This equipment utilizes special probes and interface equipment to collect data during science activities. Students are then able to analyze this data either with a connected graphing calculator or computer. The interface equipment and probes currently available for the students to use in CTST are five years old and in need of upgrading. In addition, new probes have become available in the last few years making our current selection incomplete. The purpose of this project is to expand the current offering of equipment available to UNI secondary science teaching majors.

RECONSTRUCTING SHIFTS IN PRAIRIE AND DECIDUOUS FOREST ACROSS THE CENTRAL MIDWEST USING SPELEOTHEMS
Cornell College
Dr. Rhawn Denniston
Award: $5,000

Prairie is one them most distinctive features of the historic and prehistoric Iowa landscape. Pollen deposited in lakes across the northern Midwest documents the replacements of deciduous forest and prairie in the early and middle Holocene (10,000-4000 years ago). Southern Iowa (and the southern Midwest, in general) has fewer lakes capable of preserving long pollen sequences, and thus this area's paleoenviromental history is less well known. Caves are abundant in the Ozarks, however, and ad stalagmites can preserve high-resolution paleoenviromental information, these deposits can fill important geographic and temporal gaps in paleoenviromental reconstructions.

The goal of this study is to better understand (1) the temporal variability of the atmospheric systems that control Midwestern climate, and (2) the dynamics of prairie-type grasslands during the late Pleistocene. The research will focus on analysis of several stalagmites from Cosmic Caverns Located in northwest Arkansas. The carbon isotopic ratios in stalagmite calcite (a mineral form of calcium carbonate) record shifts between forest (c3-dominated vegetation) and prairie (c4- dominated vegetation). Carbon isotopic trends from Cosmic Cavern stalagmites, constructed using a chronology established with uranium-series dating methods, will be compared with published speleothem-based vegetation records from southeastern Missouri that span 25,000-75,000 years before present. Combining vegetation and temperature signals (via oxygen isotopic ratios) from two sites located on opposite sides of the pre-settlement prairie-forest ecotone allows examination of the expansion and contraction of prairie environments which have been linked in the Midwest to changes in atmospheric circulation.

INTEGRATING THE CHARLES R. KEYES ARCHEOLOGICAL ARTIFACT COLLECTION CATALOGS INTO THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA OFFICE OF THE STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S ARCHAEOLOGY COLLECTION ACCESSION AND SITE RECORD DATABASES
The University of Iowa
John L. Cordell

The project proposes to integrate the archaeological artifact catalogs in the Charles R. Keyes Archaeological Collection (Keyes Collection) into the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist's archaeological collection accession and site record databases to make the catalogs more easily accessible for research. This will be accomplished by entering the typewritten artifact catalogs into a Microsoft Access database and then linking this data to the UI-OSA databases.

The Keyes Collection is a nationally recognized permanent collection obtained between 1922 to 1948 by Charles R. Keyes while he served as Director of the Iowa Archaeological Survey for the State Historical Society of Iowa. Particularly in historical sciences such as archaeology and paleontology, collections made decades ago still contain untapped reservoirs of scientific information. Although techniques for analyzing and managing information evolve, the objects themselves, and the records of their collection, remain as primary sources for the study of the past. The challenge is to make such projects, and information about them, available in forms that can integrated with, and compared to, other archaeological data. The proposed project will advance the goals of science by making data available to modern researchers that has previously has been inaccessible for search, query, and analysis by computerized.

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CYST WALL OF BODO CAUDATUS
Des Moines University-Osteopathic Medical Center
Dr. Andrew Brittingham
Award: $4,425

Many free-living and parasitic protozoa, including ciliates, amoeba, and flagellates, are known to form cyst. The formation of cysts serves to protect free-livings protozoa from adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation. In the case of parasitic protozoa, not only does encystment afford protection in the environment, but it may also aid in dessemination, and avoidance of hot immune defense mechanisms. The signals which also trigger individual protozoa to encyst are not completely understood, but changes in nutrient availability, oxygen tension, pH, temperature, and desiccation have all been reported to trigger this event. The identification of cyst wall proteins in Boda caudatus, a free living member of the Order Kinetoplastida, an early branching lineage of eukaryotes, will provide reliable markers which will permit a more rigorous study of cell wall formation and cellular differentiation. This information may impact our understanding of the cell biology of both free-living and parasitic protozoa. Studies outlined in this proposal are designed to optimize the conditions necessary for the successful cultivation, isolation and sub-cellular fractionation of B. caudatus cysts. SDS-page analysis of different developmental forms of B. caudatus and isolated cyst wall will facilitate the advancement of this model of unicellular eukaryotic differentiation.

2004 ISF Awards

With this grant, we propose to investigate movement dynamics in three species of grassland butterflies in different size classes: Speyeria cybele (great spangled fritillary), Colias philodice (clouded sulpher), and Phyciodes tharos (pearl crescent). Using mark/recapture and path following techniques, we will investigate movement dynamics within a large, continuous grassland (Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt in Polk County ) and within and among smaller grassland patches separated by forest matrix (Kuehn Conservation Area in Dallas County ). With these data, we will develop pseudo-random walk behavioral models for the different species. The results of these models will be useful in 1) answering questions regarding conservation management techniques and preserve design in Iowa , 2) addressing issues regarding repopulation and colonization of newly restored grassland habitat, and 3) understanding local lepidopteran movement dynamics in general.

Medical techniques such as bypass surgery continue to improve and provide a temporary "bandage" to the problem of elevated plasma cholesterol. Innovative, but practical, methods are needed to decrease cholesterol concentration, a major risk factor in the development of vascular disease that will result in more than 1.5 million cardiovascular infarctions per year. Several approaches are available to decrease plasma cholesterol including diet modification, prescription drugs, or nutriceuticals such as niacin, phytosterols or specific types of dietary fiber. While most of these methods provide some efficacy in decreasing plasma cholesterol, compliance is a problem because of cost, inconvenience, or negative side effects. This project is an initial step in the development of safe, low-cost, and user-friendly means to decrease plasma cholesterol. We propose the use of an enzyme we have named cholesterol reductase as an agent for converting cholesterol to coprostanol, which is not absorbed by the human intestine. This enzyme exists in some plant tissues and we have made successful initial attempts to partially purify the plant enzyme. This proposal will focus on identifying plant sources that are richest in cholesterol reductase activity followed by complete purification of the enzyme. The purified enzyme will be partially sequenced, and plant DNA sequence databases will be queried to identify the responsible gene. The information obtained from this grant would provide for future research to ultimately clone the gene and express the enzyme in recombinant microbial systems for large scale enzyme production. After adequate testing, the enzyme could be added to processed animal-derived food products or delivered as a pill, using commercially available lactase tablets as a model. Active enzyme delivered orally would chemically reduce dietary cholesterol and the cholesterol secreted in bile to the small intestine, resulting in increased sterol elimination from the body, thereby decreasing plasma cholesterol.

The proposed project will study use of virtual reality (VR) as a teaching and learning tool in design and graphics education. This project will investigate using head mounted display (HMD) VR, versus using anaglyphic VR, to determine the most effective and cost-effective education tool.

During the Spring 2003 semester, the investigator conducted a research project to study using anaglyphic VR in design and graphics education. Anaglyphic VR is the most common and inexpensive type of VR stereo system. Anaglyphic VR can serve multiple viewers at one time. However, an anaglyphic VR system can only display gray-scale images, and image quality is relatively poor. Although students enjoyed the VR instruction given during the Spring 2003 semester, they felt that the image quality of the anaglyphic VR system limited their enjoyment and learning. The proposed project will request and HMD for displaying design and graphics images in VR format. An HMD can provided colorful stereoscopic images with high resolution, at an affordable price. However, a single HMD can only serve one viewer at a time.

A mental rotation test and a qualitative and quantitative survey will be conducted to assess students' learning experiences and enjoyment while using the HMD VR system. Project results will be compared with Spring 2003 results. Results will also be disseminated through journal publications, conference presentations, and a project final report.

Using the proposed innovative tools in education will directly benefit the State of Iowa by providing a technology-literate work force, and will also promote Iowa 's science and technology reputation by providing well-prepared design and graphics professionals for our national labor market.

This project will involve field sampling of butterflies for the Nature Conservancy and possibly some aquatic invertebrate sampling and educational projects for the Belize Audubon Society.

The butterfly sampling effort is designed to further asses butterfly communities by habitat type throughout Belize . A complete faunal survey of butterflies has not been attempted in a Central American country; this work would serve as the model for similar efforts elsewhere. We expect numerous undescribed species to be discovered as the result of this work.

The Belize Audubon Society in cooperation with the University of Belize is initiating a rapid ecological assessment of BAS lands, including sampling of aquatic invertebrates. There will likely be opportunities for Schutte for help with this project.

Schutte has volunteered for this trip to continue professional development and to gain further knowledge of the ecosystems of Belize . She has twice led groups of college students to Belize to study tropical ecology. She is anxious to add significant field research to her resume and to contribute to conservation efforts in Belize , as well as to gain experiences that will enrich her classroom teaching and mentoring for students who may be interest in a career in zoology or conservation.

The objective of this project is to incorporate the use of hand-held computers for data collection and analysis in PHYS101 Physical Science. The project director will adapt several experiments currently done using interfaces on desktop workstations and develop new ones that illustrate the portability of the technology. At Clarke College , pre-service teachers looking forward to careers in the elementary and middle schools take a Physical Science course as part of their preparation. The course is also taken by students in other majors as part of their general education program. For many years, this course has incorporated the use of technology as students learn to use computer interfaces, spread sheets and to make presentations using PowerPoint. While this continues to be an option, the students frequently do not have access to similar computer technology when they begin teaching especially at the elementary level. If they do have computers, they are limited in date collection to the classroom since taking bulky computers "into the field" is impractical! This project will introduce the pre-service teachers to a technology that has been found to increase student motivation, increase collaboration and communication, and has the benefit of being a portable and accessible personal learning tool.

The fungal cell wall consists of two structural elements; fibers and a gel-like component. In most fungi, the fibrous component is chitin, a polymer of ß (1,4)N-acetylglucosamine. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, chitin is only a minor component of the cell wall, but it has been viewed as essential because of its role in cytokinesis. This proposal is based on the surprising isolation of a yeast mutant lacking chitin synthase activity.

In this mutant, all three genes encoding chitin synthases have been destroyed, which resulted in the creation of a strain with severe growth defects. When kept in culture, the strain acquired a suppresser mutation, which greatly increased its viability. This result shows that chitin is an important component of the cell wall, but that the cell can substitute for its function.

The aim of this proposal is to characterize the cell wall of the chitin-deficient mutant in regard to chemical composition and mechanical properties. We will also attempt to identify the suppresser mechanism that allows for growth in the absence of chitin. The results will help us understand the reaction of yeast to disturbances in cell wall integrity, which contributes to the unwanted resistance to antifungal drugs.

The following proposal outlines plans for detailed, high-resolution mapping and nondestructive, geophysical survey at two archaeological sites in O'Brien County, Iowa. The Double Ditch and Litka sites (archaeological sites 13OB8 and 13OB31) represent a permanently occupied village and a raised garden bed belonging to the late prehistoric Mill Creek culture of northwest Iowa dating to A.D. 1100-1250. The Litka site is the only known prehistoric raised garden bed in Iowa, and Double Ditch is one of the only unplowed, intact Mill Creek villages. Proposed research include detailed total station mapping of the Litka site and nodestructive, geophysical imaging of the Double Ditch village. The goals of this study are fivefold:

- prepare a high precision topographic map of the Litka site to more thoroughly document this unique site type in Iowa;

- gather geophysical data on the Double Ditch site to more thoroughly define site boundaries and identify site features;

- collate this date with those previously collected in order to further archaeological knowledge, public understanding, and conservation of these sites;

- evaluate the potential of the methodologies employed for research at other late prehistoric settlements in Iowa; and

- test specific hypothesis concerning Plains village layout, and duration of occupation.

Founded in 1867, the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science serves as a repository for regional history collections, cultural objects and natural science specimens for the Quad Cities area of eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. The Putnam's mission is to collect and preserve objects and natural science specimens and to provide educational and enriching experiences through interpretive exhibits and museum programming. The collection consists of over 170,000 objects and natural science specimens. The natural science collections have worldwide origins and include fossils, gems and minerals, shells, coral, mollusks, mammals, invertebrates and botany. The primary goal of the project is to replace the Putnam Museum's collections management software program and curatorial department computer workstations with efficient and reliable equipment and software that will provide the optimum collections database access to staff, volunteers, researches, and the general public.

FIZIX IS FUN is the whimsical title given to an outreach program to promote physical science to the broader community, conducted by the Physics Department of Luther College in Decorah, IA. The main objectives of this program are to educate, excite, and challenge people, young and old alike, regarding physics topics and about science in general. We emphasize that science can be interesting, fun, and accessible and that a basic understanding of the laws of physics remains useful in our increasingly technological world. We also point out connections between physics and other disciplines, such as music and art. This outreach program involves demonstration shows on a variety of physics topics, ranging form "Sound of Music: to "Mechanics" to "Communication." We also teach physics through hands-on exhibits, the most popular of which is a "Haunted Lab" around Halloween and we travel to local schools to do age-appropriate physics presentations for kindergarten through high-school kids. FIZIX IS FUN programming has seen over 2000 attendees in a variety of different venues over the past 2 years, and has been very well received by a wide range of people in the community. Financial support from the Iowa Science Foundation will help use expand our offerings.

The immediate goal of this project is to upgrade, expand, and enhance the general education and science courses and student and faculty research at Loras College through acquisition of an infrared spectrometer module, a molecular modeling software package, and a video terminal.

The broader goal of the project is to bring the science and general education curricula in our college to a more quantitative level by introducing and advancing the teaching and learning of molecular sciences.

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