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Biology Department Newsletter

Volume 6    Number 4    November 20, 2002

Letter from the Editor (menu)
   I hope that you enjoy this issue of the newsletter.  In this issue we begin two new features - Greenhouse News and Herbarium News.  As always, I welcome contributions to the newsletter.  Please send them to me.  Until next time...

Student News (menu)

Laurinda Showen, CSB senior and biology major, gave a presentation at the national meeting of Sigma Xi in Galveston, Texas, on November 16, 2002.   Her poster presented highlights of her research on the communication system in dragonflies, which she has done as part of her Senior Honors Thesis project.  Sigma Xi is a national society for scientific researchers and having a project accepted for presentation is a great success for Laurinda.  She has done fieldwork on dragonflies under the supervision of Dr. Jim Poff for the past two summers. 

Jennifer Layton Arnold (CSB '98) - reports that she will soon start her PharmD Clerkship Rotations soon and will be spending one month at the CDC in the department of Infectious Disease. 

Ann Sandy-March (’98) is an Environmental Health Specialist with Morrison County (MN) Public Health. 

John Sandberg (SJU ’00) was a co-author on a CSIRO publication [Population structure, movement and habitat preference of the purple-spotted gudgeon, Mogurnda adspersa.  Marine and Freshwater Research 53: 909 – 917; 2002] reporting research he did while in Australia.

Faculty News (menu)

Dr. Larry Davis was invited to present a series of faculty workshops at Southern Utah University on the topic of  Developing a Positive Teaching Philosophy.  Larry also recently gave a presentation on "Humor in the Classroom" for the CSB/SJU Learning Enhancement Program series.

Dr. James Poff recently displayed his artistic talents by showing his watercolor paintings at the Central Minnesota Watercolorists Fall Show.  Dr. Larry Davis and his wife Johanna are the proud owners of an original Poff water color.

Dr. Stephen Saupe has officially signed the NCSE's “List of Steves.”  This is a listing of scientists with the first name of Steve who support evolution.  The list was initiated in honor of Stephen J. Gould and will be used as tongue-in-cheek media device to show scientific support for evolution.  According to the Steve-o-meter, Saupe was the 200th "Steve" to join this illustrious group that includes both of the eligible Nobelists. 

Curriculum News  (menu)

Biology of the Pacific Northwest
     On Monday (18 November) at 6:00 PM and Thursday (21 November) at 6:30 PM there will be an orientation meeting for any students interested in learning more about the Biology of the Pacific Northwest (BIOL331) course. We anticipate offering this course in the summer of 2003 (mid-July through mid-August), and interested students should plan on attending one of these meetings. Both meetings will take place in the New Science Center, Room 140.  For more information contact Dr. G Brown or Dr. L Davis.

Calendar of Events (menu)

Nov 18Biology of the Pacific Northwest - Informational Meeting; NEWSC 140, 6:00 pm
Nov 19

Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Peter Villalta (SJU ‘87; University of Minnesota - Cancer Center) - " Proteomics and Protein Identification in Mouse Lung Tissue;"  4:30 p.m.; ASC 142

Nov 20 Biology Dept. Seminar: Dr. Gordon Brown (Biology; CSB/SJU) - "Pleistocene Pollen;"  NEWSC 140; 4:00 pm
Nov 21Biology of the Pacific Northwest - Informational Meeting; NEWSC 140, 6:30 pm
Nov 20

"Increasing Wild Turkey Populations in Central Minnesota"; 7:00 pm; Heritage Nature Center, St. Cloud

Feb 28Career Day - University of Minnesota

Biology Club News (menu)

Biology Club Officers:

Scholarships/Graduate Study (menu)

Some Advice for Those Considering Graduate School
   Earlier this semester I was in contact with some of the faculty from the Univ. of Minnesota about requirements to enter various graduate programs. According to Dr. Jeff Gillman, Department of Horticulture and Program in Applied Plant Science, research experience is very important, as is taking any advanced chemistry (organic) or physics.  Good grades can help to counteract bad GRE's as will a few solid letters of recommendation.  Dr. David Biesboer, Dept. of Plant Science, concurs that recommendations and GPA are important.  Other important factors are whether or not the student has taken the necessary quantitative courses (e.g., physics, calc, biochem, organic chem) and the quality of the personal statement.  This statement should be well thought out and specific.  A statement like, "I want to be in botany, but I am not sure which area, because my mother is a gardener and I like to garden, too" doesn't cut it.  Dr.  Biesboer also suggests that students should write to specific faculty and visit campuses and labs.

     As an aside, some people don't realize that students who attend graduate school, at least those in a PhD program, are only accepted if the school can provide them with financial support.  This means that a student accepted into a graduate program will receive free tuition and be offered either a fellowship (free money, like a scholarship, limited in number, only given to the "cream of the crop"), research assistantship (paid to work about half-time, 20 hours per week, doing research) or a teaching assistantship (paid to work about half-time teaching usually in laboratories, similar to our TA's but with more teaching responsibility). The take-home-message is that science grad students have little out-of-pocket expense; in fact, grad students actually make money to pay for room and board and incidentals while working toward a degree.  Thus, there are no financial reasons to block your desire to attend a graduate program.


The External Scholarship Programs Office
      If you want money, a great place to visit is the external scholarship office.  The staff is available to assist you in finding sources of scholarship funding and to answer questions about scholarship who, what, why, and wherefores.  As a part of the service, ESP will send out email notices as scholarship applications come into the office.  Be sure to check out the ESP WebPages to find links to scholarship search sites, descriptions of applications currently available in the ESP office, and loads-o-other valuable and interesting scholarships. 


Links for Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships for Graduate Study

Jobs/Volunteer (menu)

Environmental Health Specialist
     Ann Sandy-March (CSB ’98), an Environmental Health Specialist with Morrison County (MN) Public Health writes that they have a position open in their department in Little Falls, MN.  This position requires a BA or BS degree with 45 credits or 30 semester hours of a biological or environmental science.   For more information, contact Ann at (320)632-0343.


What Can I do With A Biology Major - Update & Summary
     Mary Harlander-Locke, Director of the CSB Career Resource Office, writes the career panel, “What Can I Do with a Biology Major?” that was held in later October provided some excellent information.  All of the panel members recommended getting “related experience” in terms of undergraduate research, internships (for credit or not for credit), summer jobs, etc.  Another topic that came up was using scientific temporary staffing agencies such as Lab Support, Inc. or Scientific Staffing as a way to get experience (possibly as a summer job) or after graduation.  Those students seeking laboratory type positions will find that many companies use these temporary staffing agencies as a way to complete special projects and then hire these temps on in permanent-type positions. 


U of MN Biological Sciences – Career Day
The annual Career Day will be held Friday, February 28, from 11AM-3PM at the McNamara Center on the U of MN Mpls Campus.  For more information, contact Ed Stubblefield; Associate Director; Career Services; College of Saint Benedict; St. Joseph, MN  56374-2099
 

Web Sites:

Internships/Research (menu)

Summer Research – by Dr. Michael Reagan
     Interested in doing research over the summer and getting paid for it?  Many universities sponsor summer research programs for undergraduate students.  These are typically 10-week programs in which the student works in the lab of a professor on whatever problem that lab studies.  Students are paid for the work.  Generally there will be a group of students, from many different schools, living in the same place and all working in labs.  Often there are social events as well as scientific events such as seminars and poster sessions.  Students don’t need to have a particular project in mind, they just need to be interested and curious about biology and willing to work hard at a fascinating problem.  CSB/SJU students have recently worked at UT Southwestern, the U of M, Mayo, Columbia (NY), U of Nebraska, and others, so these people definitely know our schools and our students.  Remember, the CSB/SJU also has a summer research program for students.  Details about that will be available sometime soon.  Here are some web sites with information about summer research programs at a number of schools:


The CSB/SJU Internship Office
    This office is available to help with internships.  Visit them in their office or on-line.  Some internship opportunities include:


Health Related Summer Activities
     Check out the web site at Swarthmore.

Links for Undergraduate Research

Botanist - Montana Heritage Program. 
     For more information, contact Susan Crispin,  Director; Montana Natural Heritage Program; Box 201800; Helena, MT  59634.

National Science Foundation/New England Wild Flower Society - Research Fellowship Program in Conservation Biology
     The New England Wild Flower Society (NEWFS) has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to support three students to perform basic scientific research addressing species of conservation concern throughout New England during summer 2003. We seek research proposals from advanced undergraduate or early graduate students who have demonstrated potential for completing outstanding research in biology.  More information is available on-line or from Dr. Elizabeth Farnsworth (508) 877-7630 x 3207.

Seminars/Symposia/Field Trips (menu)

Pleistocene Pollen
     Our own Dr. G Brown will present the final Biology department seminar of the semester.  The title of his seminar is "Using Pollen to Perceive Pleistocene-Holocene Phytogeography: Learning History by Playing with Muck."  It will be held November 20 at 4:00 pm in NEWSC 140.   Meet with Dr. Brown for conversation and refreshments at 3:40 pm in NEWSC 150. 

Biology Department Seminars
     The Biology Department will host several seminars this semester (listed in the Calendar).  The seminars all begin at 4:00 pm. and are held in NEWSC 140.  Refreshments and meeting the speaker is held before the seminar at 3:30 PM in NEWSC 150 (Hall Museum).

Central Minnesota Audubon Meeting
     The topic of the monthly meeting of the Central Minnesota Audubon Society is wild turkeys.  Anyone is welcome to come the meeting at the Heritage Nature Center in St. Cloud (across from Walmart).  The meeting begins at 7:00 pm.  The speaker will be Dale Kane and the title of his presentation is "Increasing Wild Turkey Populations in Central Minnesota."

Testing the Ecological Speciation Hypothesis  - by Christiaan Johnson
     The biology seminar by Dr. Tim Craig, a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, was excellent. The topic of the seminar given was "Testing the Ecological speciation Hypothesis with a Gall forming fly - Eurosta solidaginis."  Dr. Craig has performed and is performing many tests on the gall makers and gall balls in an attempt to gain and understanding of their nature and evolution.  He showed that there was no difference in the wing patterns of of two fly species and that the fate of each was to be attacked by parasitic wasps (mainly smaller galls), birds (larger galls) and used by fisherman as bait. He spoke about their allozymes, their gall sizes, and the types of genetic speciation that occurs. In addition each race has a strong preference to oviposit on their host plant, which is where they mated, and where the offspring would have a greater chance of survival. The Forest Gigantea flies emerged first and that the survival of the F1 flies was dependent upon the plant genotype.

Chemistry Department Seminars
     The Chemistry Department seminar series has been announced for this semester.  Some of the seminars that would be of particular interest to a biologist are listed in the Calendar of Events.  All start at 4:30 pm in ASC142.  Refreshments and meeting the speaker at 4:00.

Miscellaneous  (menu)

News From China - from Dr. W. Lamberts
     Dr. Bill Lamberts is currently directing the CSB/SJU China Study Abroad Program.  He and the group are having a fabulous time.  On one excursion he had the opportunity to visit with a local high school class.  Bill writes that the students “…were crammed into a small classroom, sitting at desks seven to a row of at least ten rows.  'Welcome to our class' was written in cursive English in the front blackboard. The teachers told us that they would be shy because their English was poor, but I didn’t find that to be so. They were eager to ask questions and volunteer answers to my questions.  I started out by telling them where I was from (drew a map of the US on the board), and told them that Minnesota had gotten more than 10 cm of snow the day before.  They loved that.  I then introduced them to the concept of the “Snow Day,” which seemed to fascinate them.  From there I moved onto the topic of camping, and told them about canoeing and dog-sledding in the Boundary Waters.  I had brought some postcards of a moose, a wolf and some loons, and passed them around.  I told them about chasing bears away.  They liked the idea of portaging.  Then I opened it up for questions. The first was whether I liked the NBA, and did I perhaps know Michael Jordan?  They wanted to know what kind of music I liked, whether I enjoyed Chongqing hotpot (a local specialty), whether I liked to travel, what I thought about China, whether I liked Chongqing hot pot (I think that kid missed it the first time around), and would I sing a song?  I sang them “Take me out to the ball game,” on the condition that they would sing me a song.  A kid in the back awkwardly performed a number by the Backstreet Boys.  So much for 4000 years of civilization.”  If you want to read more about the group’s adventures in Chain, click here to visit a website the students put together.  It has a few essays about their travels, plus a selection of photos. 

Deer Hunt at St. John's    
     Last weekend was a controlled deer hunt on the St. John's Arboretum.  There were 32 hunters who harvested 28 deer.  The hunt is needed as a management tool to control deer populations on campus.  The DNR estimates the carrying capacity of the Arboretum is about 70, but current deer population is between 120 and 140.   

CSB/SJU Library Instant Messaging – from Jim Parsons, Clemens Library
     Starting November 11, the libraries will be offering real-time reference assistance via MSN Messenger (an instant message utility) from noon to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.  Our sign-in name is csbsjulibraryref@hotmail.com.  We’re available to help you with just about anything the library offers – locating statistics, finding books and journal articles, help with using any of the library’s resources, and identifying useful sources of information in general.   While we always suggest an in-person consultation with a reference, this is not always possible.  We’re hoping this service is an option for students in their dorm rooms, for students and faculty working from off-campus, or anywhere that a phone call or personal visit is not practical yet an Internet connection is immediately available.  We’ll even assist CSB/SJU community members studying abroad!  Please note that at this time MSN Messenger is not available on computers in the campus computer labs.  We are looking at this as pilot project for the rest of the semester.  If demand warrants, we may extend our hours into the evening.  For more information, including how to download the MSN Messenger software, click here.  If you have a specific question or comment, please contact Jim Parsons (x 5907).

News from the Melancon Greenhouse - by Susanna Hynes (menu)
        The Melancon Greenhouse is open daily from noon to four for your viewing pleasure.  We have some small plants that you can buy or you are welcome to just stop by to catch a few rays and leave your coat and worries behind.  The sun sometimes shines, the plants sometimes bloom, and our birds sometimes sing (if not, I'll sing for you).  You can check out the 5 lemons on the lemon tree, smell the orchids that are sending forth their sweet fragrance, feed our two toads that welcome you in the tunnel, or say "hello" to our salamander (he must looks back at you) and frog (who is not as friendly as the others and is very, very fast.)  If you'd like to bring your sick or dying plants with you, I'll see if I can help them.  But please, wrap them up before you head out into the cold.  See you soon.

News from the CSB/SJU Bailey Herbarium -  (menu) - by Stephen Saupe

The Bailey Herbarium has really been hopping the past few weeks.  This is the time of the semester when the Plant Taxonomy class is studying for their plant ID test.  You're likely to find someone busy learning the "Plants to Know" at virtually any hour of the day.  We're excited to have recently obtained some new books including the two volume "Aquatic Plants of North America" series.  We have three assistants this semester, Katrina Viegas, Sara Scott and Zack Tegels - be sure to stop by and say hi.  We invite you to visit our herbarium website, which is is serious need of updating.  During my sabbatical in the spring I plan to spend quite a bit of time fixing it up.     

Web Sites Worth A Visit  (menu)
 (have you visited any cool sites lately?  Send us your suggestions)

I recently wrote a piece about parasitic plants and found a terrific web site - The Parasitic Plant Connection.  Try it, you'll like it (editor).

Puzzler of the Week (menu)
 (Do you know any good puzzlers?  Please send us your ideas)

New Puzzler
     Gina Lux (CSB Nat Sci, '04) has submitted a great puzzler - can you identify the cause of the strange growth structure of this tree (see pix)?  She found many of them when she was working at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado last summer.  They were below tree-line, at about 9,000 feet or so. 

To enter the competition, simply send your answer (anyone can participate!) to Dr. S. Saupe via email  or snail mail (c/o Biology Department, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN 56321), campus mail, or simply slide the entry under my office door, SC335). The winner will be selected randomly from among the correct entries.  The winner will receive an official CSB/SJU Herbarium Magnet. Entries are due December 13.


Puzzler from the last issue:  Name a plant in the CSB/SJU Biology Department Greenhouse that is bat pollinated.   Answer:  The night-blooming cereus is a bat pollinated cactus that we have growing in the greenhouse.  Once again, there were no entries. 

Joke of the Week  (menu)
 (Have you heard any good jokes?  Please share them with us)

NEW WORDS FOR 2002 - Essential additions for the workplace vocabulary:
(thanks to Michael Pesch for sharing this one)

Some Puns (I think these may have been in an issue last year, but they're worth repeating)

  1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons.  The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

  2. Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina.  One went to Hollywood and became a famous actor.  The other stayed behind in the cotton fields and never amounted to much.  The second one, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils.

  3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.

  4. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West.  He slides up to the bar and announces:  "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

  5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal?  He wanted to transcend dental medication.

  6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.  After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.  "But why?" they asked, as they moved off.  "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

  7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption.  One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal."  The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan."  Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother.  Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal.  Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

  8. The friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds.  Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair.  He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not.  He went back and begged the friars to close.  They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close.  Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop.  Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

  9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet.  He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath.  This made him ....what? (this is so bad, it's good)...A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis. 

  10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh.   Sadly, no pun in ten did.

Frequently Asked Questions  (menu)

For more information, contact:

Dr. Stephen G. Saupe
Professor & Herbarium Curator
Biology Department
College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Collegeville, MN 56321
(320) 363-2782; (320) 363-3202 (fax); ssaupe@csbsju.edu


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