Faculty/Student Summer Research at Gustavus Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by

The Excellence story about summer research on the front page of the Gustavus web site reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write a post about our summer research community on campus.

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Colin Boettcher ('09) and Jeff Jeremiason (chemistry and environmental studies professor) canoe the Blue Earth river. Photo courtesy of Joel Carlin.

This summer we have 34 students working with 21 faculty members on Gustavus-based research projects.  By my count, nine different departments (biology, chemistry, communication studies, education, geology, history,  physics, political science, and psychology) and three interdisciplinary programs (biochemistry and molecular biology, environmental studies, and neuroscience) are represented (tell me if I’ve missed someone!). Most of these faculty/student collaborative projects are taking place on this campus, although some folks are off doing field research or visiting other sites.

Although the Gustavus campus is definitely quieter in the summer, the atmosphere in the summer research community is lively. Students and faculty get together often to share research plans, progress, and results. Science researchers meet every Wednesday for student research presentations. Students and faculty from across campus are starting a new tradition of hosting salons to discuss topics related to their research interests.

Kelly Rozenboom ('08)

Kelly Rozenboom ('08) presents the research she did with Brenda Kelly (biology and chemistry professor). Photo courtesy of Joel Carlin.

The community also gets together for fun and relaxation. We hold weekly socials, kickball games, cricket lessons, canoe trips, camping trips, impromptu group lunches, game nights, picnics, and more.

The pictures in this post are a little old because I’m terrible about remembering to take pictures. I remembered to take my camera to last week’s picnic at Seven-Mile Creek park, but didn’t take pictures of anything but the tawny emperors that were flying around landing on everyone.

For more information about science research in particular, see

http://gustavus.edu/academics/research/

 

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