UWRF hosts the 2010 UW-System Research Day on April 30th!

Once again, UWRF was selected as the site for the annual UW-System Statewide Research Day. On April 30th more than 350 students from across the state will converge on the UC for a day of presentations and talks which showcase activities throughout the System. This represents the second time UWRF has hosted this important event. The first time was in 2008 when more than 300 students came to our campus for a very successful meeting.

This years keynote address will be presented by Brian Fife, an Immunology researcher at the UMinn TC Medical School. This presentation represents a full circle for UWRF Undergraduate research since Brian was a student here in the 1990’s and conducted his first research immunology projects in the Biology Department under the direction of Dr. Karen Klyczek. Now, Brain is a rising star in the field of Immunology who regularly publishes in the best science journals in the world. Not bad for one of our own!

Brian Fife graduated from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls in May 1995, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology. He then received his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis through the Department of Pathology at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, IL, in 2001. Brian went on to perform postdoctoral fellow research at the University of California at San Francisco in the Department of Medicine Diabetes Center in San Francisco, CA., until 2007.

Brian has received numerous honors and awards for his research regarding Juvenile Diabetes. Brian is an Assistant Professor in the Department Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases, Center for Immunology at the U of M. He is a member of many associations, including the American Society of Immunologists, the American Diabetes Association, the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Brian is the Director of the Center for Immunology Imaging Core Facility, as well as a faculty mentor for the Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology graduate program at the U of M.

Brian is an Ad Hoc Reviewer for seven scientific journals including the journals Cell, Diabetes, and the Journal of Immunology. He has upwards of 20 publications including “Interactions between PD-1 and PD-L1 promote tolerance by blocking the T cell receptor-induced stop signal.” (Nature Immunology. 2009 Nov;10(11):1185-92.) and “Visualizing regulatory T cell control of autoimmune responses in non-obese diabetic mice.” (Nature Immunology 2006 Jan;7(1):83-92.)

Report from the Rockies….the return home!

This will be the final report from NCUR 2010, unfortunately all good things must end…but that just means it's time to start working on our data for NCUR 2011 in Ithaca, New York!!! We only have about 360 days until we all meet again to celebrate undergraduate research from across the nation. And you can bet that UWRF will be there (in force), leading our region in this important “high impact” educational activity! We have already talked to Sun Country about the jets to get there next year…so now it is up to our students to do their research, scholarly and creative activities in the coming year so that they can once more join their peers in growing, expanding and building the future for us all!

As you can see, the trip home, as always, was very tiring…after 3 solid days of meeting, presenting, learning and a little “just plain fun stuff”…we are all worn out. Of course that didn’t stop some folks from breaking out the homework and getting ready for their week back in class! Montana bid us a lovely farewell with nearly perfect flying weather again and we had one last long look at those gorgeous mountains as we headed home.

Once on the ground, it was particularly bittersweet to realize that this was Dr. Bill Campbell’s last official NCUR meeting as the “travel-agent-to-future-stars”. Though we seriously doubt it is actually his last unofficial NCUR meeting ;-)). Bill will be retiring in the summer and so finished off his long efforts to build a research culture here at UWRF with an immensely successful final trip this year. Bill has been working for the betterment of UWRF through a variety of means since the early 1990’s and was the key administrative element in the formation of SURSCA. In fact, it was Bill and several students who cooked up the idea over lunch at NCUR 2002 in Whitewater, WI. The rest as they say, is now history…leading to the charter of 2 jets and transport of 360 young scholars from across our region to this year’s event! To thank Bill and acknowledge his many contributions to these efforts and the thousands of students he has impacted through his efforts, the UWRF travelers this year presented him with a signed NCUR 2010 T-Shirt… we wish him well and all the happiness and success that he has helped bring to so many students over his entire career.

On behalf of all those current and former students, SURSCA wishes to say, THANKS BILL and WELL DONE!!!

Report from the Rockies: Day Three!

Once more, UWRF student scholars stepped up to the plate and hit another series of homeruns. Presentations today included topics such as the evolution of SURSCA, Ecology, Chemistry, Music, Literature, Horticulture and others. Scholars who presented on Saturday included the following:

WOMEN COMPOSERS IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES Poster Music Virginia Carlson

INNOVATIVE GROWING CONTAINERS MAY POTENTIALLY EXPAND CONSUMERS CHOICE OF TREES FOR REPLACING DISAPPEARING ASH TREES Poster Botany Anthony Celley

USING AN INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY TO MEASURE THE EFFECTS OF A TRIBUTARY (PARKER CREEK) ON THE BIOTIC INTEGRITY OF THE KINNICKINNIC RIVER Poster Biology Kristina Gorshe

THE SOCIETY FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES (SURSCA) Poster Education Ashley Graef and Felicha Colbeth

EFFECTS AND FEASABILITY OF LED LIGHTS IN COMMERCIAL GREENHOUSE

CHRYSANTHEMUM PRODUCTION. Poster Botany John Letourneaux

QUATERNARY GLACIAL MAPPING USING SOIL SURVEY INFORMATION Poster Geology/Earth Sciences Betsy Oehlke

THE REPRESENTATIONS OF TIME IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S MRS. DALLOWAY, THE WAVES, AND TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. Poster Literature Andy Phelps

WESTERN INVOLVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN, 1838-1989 Oral History Adam Roberts

THE CONCEPT OF BREATHING Poster Music Jordan Warfield

TOWARD THE SYNTHESIS OF RHUSCHOLIDE A Poster Chemistry Amie Wrisky

JACK STAMP: THE MAN BEHIND THE COMPOSITIONS Poster Music Nikki Zeleny

After the meeting some students spent time enjoying the natural beauty of Montana while others hit the books to prepare for the assignments that await their return home…the work never ends! Having seen the mountains, we can all understand why they call it "Big Sky Country"!!!

With these presentations on Saturday, UWRF concluded its participation in NCUR 2010. This year was one of “firsts” for the meeting and UWRF with a record number of overall participants at 2800 from across the nation as well as the UK with UWRF being the 3rd largest contingent at the meeting with 75 presenters, faculty and administrators. Not to mention that the Wisconsin/Minnesota regional travel consortium (lead by UWRF) was the first time anyone here can remember that such schools chartered their own jets to arrive in style at an NCUR meeting! Plans are already in the works for next year to repeat this success! It was a great meeting with many organizational, institutional and student personal triumphs of which to be proud.

Great job UW-River Falls!!!!

Report from the Rockies: Day Two!

The day was again a beautiful one! Great weather outside and excellent scholarship and professionalism inside! Our student colleagues were fantastic and impressed the entire meeting with their knowledge, skill and presence while presenting a wide variety of subjects. Today’s presentations included the following:

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: THE CONCEPT OF MIRRORING IN POSTMODERNISM LITERATURE Oral English Amadeline Baird

VIDEO PRODUCTION AND RED BULL: THE NEXUS OF TEACHER PREPARATION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND COLLEGE ACCESS Oral Education Paul Bowman

WANDERING THE UNEXPECTED PATH: AN ARTHURIAN TALE Oral Creative Writing Kelly Bryant

THE FIGHT FOR IRISH FREEDOM: COLONIAL IRELAND Oral European Studies John Hanley

INVASION OF THE LYME DISEASE VECTOR IXODES SCAPULARIS AND PATHOGEN BORRELIA BURGDORFERI IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN Oral Biology Michelle Haring

UNIVERSITY COMPOST AGAINST COMPETITIVE SOURCES Poster Biology Max Hart

"STONE SOUP - A FOLKTALE THROUGH THE AGES" Performing or Visual Arts: Gallery Exhibit English Sandi Hoag

PHOOLAN DEVI: ARCHETYPE OF STRUGGLE FOR CLASS AND GENDER EQUALITY IN POST-COLONIAL INDIA Oral English Brent Hopkins

INFLUENCE OF PAST MAORI TRADITIONS INTO CONTEMPORARY ART Oral Art History Chelsea Kelly

NOT QUITE TRANSCENDENCE: VIRGINIA WOOLF AND THE GENDER BINARY Oral English Peter Larson

THE ESSENCE OF LANDSCAPE Performing or Visual Arts: Gallery Exhibit Studio Art Cheyenne Mallo

TISSUE ADHESION DEFECTS IN THE ZEBRAFISH BUBBLE TAIL MUTATION CAUSE HEMORRHAGE, EPIDERMAL FINFOLD DEGENERATION AND LETHALITY Poster Biology Charles Phillips

CHINESE TEA POTS: A LINK TO THE LITERATI Oral Art History Lauren Potter

SIMULATIONS OF PHOTON TRANSPORT IN SOUTH POLE ICE USING A GRAPHICS PROCESSOR UNIT Oral Physics Abby Riddick

GENDER REFLECTION Performing or Visual Arts: Gallery Exhibit Studio Art Shelby Sand

THE OJIBWE AND THEIR FIGHT FOR THEIR HOME IN WISCONSIN Poster History Wendy Schmidt

“ARRANGE WHATEVER PIECES COME YOUR WAY”: VISUAL AND LITERARY ART IN VIRGINIA WOOLF Oral English Caryn Whipple

WISH - A DANCE EXPLORING THE TIBETAN PILGRIMAGES Performing or Visual Arts: Powerpoint Presentation Dance Haiya Zhang

In addition to the various presentations it was fun to open the local paper and discover that UWRF and it’s “partners in travel” had been mentioned in an excellent story on NCUR 2010 (see http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_52547842-4910-11df-a599-001cc4c03286.html). In particular, the piece noted that “Wisconsin-area schools chartered two airplanes” to get here. In fact, our planes have been the talk of the meeting! Besides being the third largest contingent in the nation at this international meeting of some 2800 students (folks are here from England as well), our use of Sun Country to off-set the travel costs has been noted across the meeting! In fact, the travel costs were discussed at the Friday morning “Faculty Summit” and our solution was roundly praised by all. Additionally, we have already lined-up additional schools for next year and Bill checked with Sun Country about flying into Ithaca NY, site of NCUR 2011. It appears that we’ve started something of a new and exciting trend within NCUR here at Montana!

Besides the presentations by our students, we have all been participating in the several excellent plenary sessions here in Missoula as well. These have included some fascinating presentations of Native American culture including a native flute recital by R. Carlos Nakai on Thursday night and the Kyi-Yo Nation Pow Wow on Friday night. It was an amazing cultural diversity immersion for us all to witness the majesty of these wonderful people from the “first nation”. As honored guest of our native fellow Americans many students from NCUR (including some from UWRF) were invited to joined in the dancing and celebrating as well.

Saturday promises to be another busy day! And unfortunately our last here at NCUR 2010! But alas, as the saying goes all good “things” must come to an end, and what a great “thing” this has been.

For a student prespective check out the student profile page at: http://uwrf-rsca-students.blogspot.com/ (Links are to the left).

Report from the Rockies: Day One!

The day was beautiful here, no snow and the sun broke out early, remaining throughout the day. Temps were in the mid/upper 60’s with a light breeze. Numerous very successful UWRF presentations took place today including the following:

THE MICROBIOLOGY OF RAW MILK: ORGANIC VS. CONVENTIONAL Oral Nutrition and Food Science Kimberly Altenhofen

A COMPARISON OF THE ATTITUDES, EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES, AND ENGAGEMENT OF MILITARY VETERANS AND NONVETERAN COLLEGE STUDENTS Poster Psychology Bryan Bodrog

SURSCA ENTERS THE 21ST CENTURY BY UTILIZING “FACEBOOK” AS A CONTACT TOOL AND PEER-REVIEWED GRANTS TO BUILD THE UWRF UG RESEARCH CULTURE Oral William Campbell, Ashley Graef, Felicia Colbeth, Tim Morris, Robert Gordon, Paul Casper an Tim Lyden

ANALYSIS OF ESTIMATED COSTS AND INVESTMENT FEASIBILITY OF TRANSITIONING TO AN ELLEPOT PRODUCTION SYSTEM Oral Economics Ted Cannady

FAKE BERRIES AND A MILK BOX: SEARCHING FOR GROUND Oral Creative Writing Harmony Hanson

THE ODEN ICE BREAKER CALIBRATION CRUISE: EXTENDING THE ICETOP ARRAY FOR SOLAR STUDY Poster Astrophysics Kyle Jero

MODELING COMPLEX CERVICAL CARCINOMA CELL-DERIVED STRUCTURES IN 3D “ARTIFICIAL TISSUE” CULTURES. Poster Bioengineering Brittany Lee

2009 UWRF CLIMATE CHANGE SURVEY Poster Political Science Jonathan Lyksett, Cory Heaton and Jennifer Haug

"WHEN MY FATHER DIES" Oral Creative Writing Todd Mueske

UNDER THE WAVES: WATER IMAGERY IN VIRGINIA WOOLF Oral English Stefanie Otteson

THE INFLUENCE OF DIABETES MELLITUS ON INTERPERSONAL AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS Poster Psychology Rachel Peterson

TISSUE AND CELLULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF LONG-TERM CARDIAC ARTIFICIAL TISSUES CULTURED IN 3D USING NATURAL ECM MATERIALS. Poster Bioengineering Victor Piazza

FIREARM INVOLVEMENT INFLUENCES ON THE RECIDIVISM OF GANG MEMBERS COMPARED TO NON-GANG MEMBERS Oral Criminology Daniel Scott

COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION OF A SIMPLE PENDULUM DRIVEN BY A NATURAL CHAOTIC FUNCTION Poster Physics Trevor Tomesh

VIRGINIA WOOLF: UNCOVERING HISTORY FOR THE OTHER HALF OF HUMANITY Oral English Catherine Wilson

Tomorrow promises to be another busy day!!!

“Well Toto...we’re not in Wisconsin anymore”, we made it to NCUR 2010!

We did it…with UWRF in the lead, some 360 undergraduate scholars from across the region successfully arrived in balmy Montana on the 14th for NCUR 2010! The flight out here was spectacular, with excellent and extremely friendly service from the Sun Country crews all the way! They made the trip a blast! Of course as you can see they made some of us work for our upgrades ;-))) !!! Both 737’s arrived in Missoula after beautiful flights across the plains and into the Rockies. Now the real work begins! Posters and oral presentations start this morning and our students are ready to go!

Shown here in transit and upon arrival are UWRF students Michelle Haring, Paul Casper, Ashley Graef, Felicha Colbeth and Chuck Phillips. Dr. Lyden (SURSCA Adviser) had to bus tables for his first class upgrade! Meanwhile, Chancellor Van Galen and Dr. Campbell as well as Nija Lawrence-Porter and our good friend from UW La Crosse, Dr. VJ Argawal enjoyed the hospitality of Sun Country.

Thanks, Sun Country!

A great start!

Weather in Montana!!!

Winter Storm Warning


Late Afternoon: Snow. High near 37. West wind around 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow. Low around 31. West wind between 11 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. West wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32. West southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. East southeast wind around 7 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64.

Friday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Saturday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62.

Saturday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57.

Chancellor Van Galen to join UWRF student presenters at NCUR 2010!!

Chancellor Van Galen will join the 75 students, staff and faculty who are attending NCUR 2010 in Missoula MT this year. UWRF will be leading a regional contingent of some 362 students, faculty and administrators from across the region on this trip. Organizing the charter of two Sun Country jets to provide transport, SURSCA and the UWRF Grants Office are at the lead in assisting travelers from UW-Whitewater, UW-Eau Claire, UW-LaCrosse, UW-Platteville, UW-Superior, U of MN, Hamline, St. Johns/St. Benedicts and St. Scholastica to attend this premier national UG student meeting.

On Wednesday Chancellor Van Galen released the following message to his fellow RSCA travelers:

“Congratulations to the UWRF students and faculty who will be participating in the upcoming National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Missoula, Montana! I look forward to joining you and seeing first hand the presentation of your research and scholarly activities.

As you may know, there is a tradition of a high level of participation by UW-River Falls students at NCUR, and this year it appears that we will have the greatest number of student presenters in our history!

On a personal note, when I was a full-time chemistry professor I had the opportunity to take students to several NCUR meetings. It is truly amazing to be able to present your work in front of a national audience of peers, and to interact with other students and faculty from many universities and colleges. I especially encourage you to attend some presentations that are well outside of your major. I recall several art
history research presentations that I found fascinating.

Special thanks to all of the UWRF faculty and staff who make these types of "high impact educational experiences" possible. See you in Missoula!

Dean Van Galen
Chancellor”