Faculty and Students…Partners in Research

Twins Alexandra ’04 and Teodora Niculce ’04 and Dr. Roxanne Gupta (center front, left to right) pose at the Red Lotus Cafe in Bazzano, Italy with members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a group of yogis who integrate work with spirituality.  They were one group among many in several countries of Europe (Italy, France, Austria, Slovenia and Romania) who were interviewed for the project "Eastern Orthodoxy and Alternative Spirituality:  A Creative Dialogue."

Thirteen faculty/student teams were awarded Albright Creative & Research Experience (ACRE) grants to conduct collaborative research projects during the summer. Many projects from prior years have been presented at professional conferences or published in academic journals.

Representative of the diverse disciplines offered at Albright, projects ranged from physics and psychology to religious studies and environmental science.

• Gregory Koch ’04 and Dr. David Osgood (biology) measured water and nutrient input into a freshwater wetland from adjacent farmland. Koch was testing for the location and magnitude of inputs to assess the role they may play on controlling vegetation and hydrology in the wetland. These variables in turn dictate the spatial extent of conditions conducive to bog turtle activity.
  
  
• Alexandra Niculce ’04, Teodora Niculce ’04 and Dr. Roxanne Gupta (religious studies) conducted a detailed survey comparing and analyzing the integration of alternative forms of spirituality and Orthodox Christianity throughout parts of Western and Eastern Europe.
  
  
• Justin Madaus ’04 and Dr. Andrea Chapdelaine (psychology) evaluated perceptions of the police held by citizens, prisoners and the police themselves. They did this by distributing a survey to police departments and prisons in Illinois and Berks County (Albright’s home county), as well as an Internet survey of citizens in each area. By comparing differences in perceptions, they hope to better understand and improve police-community relations.
  
  
• David Kristula ’04 and Yuko Oda (digital media) worked on a “Cancer Game,” an arcade-type computer game that helps cancer patients visualize the elimination of cancer cells. This game is realized through the combination of theoretical research on cancer and its relationship to visualization, imagery and art therapy, and on technical and artistic research on game development, graphic design, and object-oriented programming. (See story on page 19.)
  
  
• Tara Smith ’06, Charles Frankhouser ’06 and Dr. Karen Campbell (biology) used radio-telemetry to monitor the aging and roost activity of three species of bats in Pennsylvania about which little is known. They studied the Northern long-eared bats, Eastern Pipistrelles and Red bats.
  
  
• Adam Forrer ’05 paired with Dr. Devon Mason (physics) to explore his interest in creating computer games that realistically portray physical laws governing nature. Many of the concepts in physics are dynamic and can best be understood if one can see the dynamics of the phenomena. The animations they created allow the user to vary parameters’ settings to study their effects. The ability to change parameters is important for allowing the student to explore the various facets of the problem. The final results of this study will be a series of computer programs for use on desktop computers and, ultimately, on the Internet. These programs will help instructors in teaching physics at all levels.
  
  
• Matthew Long ’04 and Dr. David Osgood (biology) assessed the effectiveness of wetland restoration efforts to restore habitat conditions for an endangered bog turtle species. The restoration, conducted through the Fish & Wildlife Service, entails clear-cutting of woody vegetation and, ultimately, grazing by cattle adjacent to a freshwater wetland. Long measured subsurface water levels and soil nutrients in response to the clear-cut to test the hypothesis that wetland conditions would expand into the clear-cut area from the adjacent wetland.
  
  
• Devon Seward ’04 and Dr. Brenda Ingram-Wallace (psychology) developed the Elderly Mental Status Intake Evaluation (EMSIE). This scale measures five mental health components (aggression, depression, intimacy, self esteem and anxiety) in seniors who are entering skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes or assisted living centers.
  
  
• Andrew Harris ’04, working with Dr. William King (religious studies) examined Joseph Priestley, an 18th-century scientist and discoverer of oxygen, who was also a Christian preacher and religious educator in England and America. Their project looked at how Priestley re-examined Christianity in order to reconcile the Christian view of God with his own scientific views regarding the nature of matter and reality, and how he also tried to justify religious faith in terms of modern associational and materialistic theories about how the human mind operates. In interesting ways, Priestley’s solutions may anticipate modern theories about reality and religious faith, and he paved the way for a more modern approach to religious education and civic virtue.
  
  
• Kelly Losito ’05 and Adrian Chesh ’05, working with Dr. Stephen Mech (biology) examined how different small-mammal species respond to paved roads. They focused on white-footed mice and eastern chipmunks as study animals. They were interested in determining if high-traffic-volume roads would affect the animals’ behavior upon release, and/or their ability to return to a trapping grid. They monitored the short-term behavior of released animals using powder tracking, and the longer-term return rate to their home range (homing) using live trapping.
  
  In addition, they examined the population dynamics of the white-footed mouse over the course of the summer. Losito’s focus is on the tracking data using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and fractal analysis to detect any differences between release sites and species. Chesh will describe the population dynamics of the white-footed mouse and test for a difference in homing ability between the two species.

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