The Sci-Files on Impact 89FM

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Courtney, Katie and Michael to discuss their research, along with mentor and mentee relationships.

Courtney Larson is from the Department of Entomology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program. Katie Kierczynski is a Master’s student in Dr. Brian Roth’s lab for her current Master’s research. Michael Orbain is an undergraduate student in the Department of Integrative Biology and currently works with Courtney in Dr. M. Eric Benbow‘s laboratory, but he also works in Dr. Jean Tsao’s lab (Fisheries and Wildlife Department).

A few years ago, Courtney was a mentor for Katie during Katie’s undergraduate career at MSU. Courtney currently mentors Michael who works in two laboratories, and he also is on the Impact 89 FM content team! Listen to how mentoring affects people throughout the different stages of their careers and the various research projects that these students have.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Courtney Larson.

Aquatic ecosystems have captivated Courtney Larson and lead her to her research interests to insects that spend a portion of all of their lives in water. This can include different invertebrates such as dragonflies and caddisflies.  She graduated from Wartburg College with a B.A. degree in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Environmental Science (’14) before beginning her Ph.D. studies in Michigan State University’s Department of Entomology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program. Courtney is interested in the effect of environmental disturbance on the insect and microbial community interactions in streams.  In addition to her passion for research, Courtney is also involved in outreach and teaching related to ecology and environmental studies.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Faryal Mir and Kate Hammond from the Department of Radiology in order to understand their research on engineering Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) proteins as well as the mentorship that occurs in the labs here at MSU.

Faryal is associated with the Department of Genetics and the College of Osteopathic Medicine, pursuing a DO-PhD. Kate is a recent graduate of MSU and will be attending the College of Osteopathic Medicine in the fall. They work closely together in the Molecular and Cellular Imaging Laboratory (MCIL) with advisor Dr. Erik Shapiro.

Faryal’s work focuses on protein engineering in the context of MRI. She is very interested in exploring the liver transport protein, OATP (organic anion transporting polypeptide). She even published a paper involving OATPs. In this paper, the Shapiro lab demonstrated that a mouse with human OATPs mimic the human protein thereby making it easier for MRIs to capture an image of the animal’s muscles and organs. Overall, by using human OATPs, screening animals is easier because the MRI shows greater contrast.

Kate has been involved in many different projects, from investigating proteins with Faryal to running CT-based experiments and performing tissue cultures. She has been with the MCIL as an undergrad for three years and hopes to remain involved in research throughout her medical studies and career.

Kate and Faryal both believe strongly in the value of mentor-mentee relationships, and feel that such a relationship benefits both people involved!

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Chelsea Weiskerger from the Department of Environmental Engineering, pursuing a Dual Ph.D. with Environmental Science and Policy. 

Chelsea has been involved in several different research projects focusing on how water quality and beaches affect public health. She has published statistical models of long-term (10-15 year) beach water quality patterns in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. She has also created models of how sunlight behaves within water; which can indicate water quality conditions.

Beach sand has been a source of microbiological contamination, so Chelsea is currently working on a project to see how urbanization and climate change may affect it. Much of her research has involved fieldwork, analysis of water samples, and statistical modeling of the Great Lakes.

Moving forward, Chelsea is planning to research the effects of river outlets on beach water quality, since they change with stormwater runoff. Overall, she hopes to use her skills to influence clean water policy and maximize the protection of the public at beaches.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Jacob Bradburn about his research on jobs. Jacob is a fourth-year doctoral candidate at the Michigan State University Organizational Psychology program. Jacob’s research focuses on employee selection, individual differences, and methodology.

Research by Jacob and his colleagues has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Research Methods, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior. The research itself has also been covered by outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and the Miami Herald. Tune in as we discuss how the personality and interests of employees related to the workplace and employee interactions, you might even gain some insight into how to make more out of your job!

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Sara Ayoub about her research and involvement with the construction of the Separator for Capture Reactions (SECAR). Sara is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and works the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL).

Specifically, Sara is an experimental physicist interested in how stars evolve and how heavy stars explode and die. We are made of stardust that was once formed inside a star through a series of nuclear fusion reactions. Some heavy elements, Calcium for example, are formed during explosions such as novae. Even heavier elements such as Nickel and Gold are made in X-ray bursts, which are an explosion that occurs when a neutron star takes enough gas from another nearby star. Sara is working on testing a new device at the cyclotron lab at MSU that will precisely measure nuclear reactions rates that power these fascinating explosions. The goal is to be able to understand how these reactions work, so we can explain the observations astronomers make.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your co-hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Darren Incorvaia about his research on bees, here at the Michigan State University. Darren is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology.

Social insects, such as bees, require many resources in order to build and maintain a nest, produce and nourish workers, and reproduce. To ensure the colony forages effectively, social insects have numerous communication strategies including the dance language of honeybees and odor trails of ants. Since bumblebees face similar selective pressures and do not have a dance language or odor trails, how do they ensure that they are exploiting the best possible resources? Darren’s research focuses on this. Through both field experiments and an agent-based computer model, Darren hopes to show that bumblebees use social information in the nest to inform their individual foraging decisions.

For more information on the MSU Bug House, click here.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

On this week’s The Sci-Files, your co-hosts Chelsie and Daniel interview Robert Logan about his research on deserts, here at the Michigan State University W. K. Kellogg Biological Station. Robert is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology/Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program.

Climate models predict that deserts are likely to get hotter and drier in the coming decades which will most likely have big effects on the people and other organisms that live in these already resource-scarce areas. When plants and animals die, they start to decompose, so through gaining a better understanding of how desert ecosystems work, will help us develop better strategies to deal with the challenges in arid lands.

In order to gain more understanding, Robert is studying microorganisms that live in one of the driest places on the planet. This research will help scientists understand how they change their environment and how it impacts our lives.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

Catch this week's episode of The Sci-Files, where Daniel and Chelsie interview Claire Hoffmann. Claire is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, who studies the conflict between humans and large carnivores in East Africa.

In this region, in East Africa, carnivores such as lions, leopards, and hyenas eat a lot of livestock. The livestock owners often retaliate by killing carnivores. This conflict places a lot of pressure on both human and wildlife communities.

Claire addresses this issue by using new technologies such as motion-activated infrared cameras and acoustic recorders. She also uses traditional data collection methods such as vegetation surveys. Her study uses the data from these approaches to identify patterns of where, when, and how carnivores attack livestock. More specifically, she focuses on how we might be able to use these patterns to predict and prevent future attacks on livestock. This would reduce the rates of conflict which the loss of livestock triggers. The goal of her research is to minimize the adverse effects on both carnivore and human communities in that region.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!

This week on The Sci-Files, Daniel and Chelsie interview Joel Soler, MA. Joel is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Psychology-Behavioral Neuroscience at Michigan State University.

Environmental lighting conditions influence cognitive function in both healthy populations and patients with dementia. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood.

The goal of his research is to examine how chronic daytime light conditions impact a brain region, the hippocampus, which is crucial for learning and memory. His experiments have tested the hypothesis that light modulates the hippocampus function using a combination of approaches. The results shed insight into the neural pathways modulating the hippocampus functions in a diurnal brain. This implies prevention and slowing down of aging-associated cognitive decline.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and Facebook!