T.

DAVID BATEMAN

Volume 3, Issue 1
December 2015

Undergraduate Research Newsletter

Speakers Needed
The annual Arkansas
Undergraduate research
Conference at HSU every spring is intended to
showcase the variety of
research and scholarly
and creative activity students and their faculty
mentors are engaged in
across the state. Each
year, a keynote speaker
is chosen to give a talk
during the AURC Banquet. The talk is aimed at
Undergraduate researchers from all disciplines.
To make these talks
relevant to students in all
areas it is important to
have speakers from
many different backgrounds give the talk
over the years. I need
your help to make these
talks accessible to students from all disciplines
by recommending speakers from your area of
expertise or interest.
If you know someone
that might be willing to
give the keynote speech
at future conferences,
please send me their
contact details.
Have a great winter
break!
T. David Bateman, Ph.D.
Director, Undergraduate Research
batemat@hsu.edu

Students Under the Direction of Dr. Maralyn Sommer Conduct

Reed Research to Benefit Arkansas Band Students.
Sophomoremusicma
jors,Chris anDavisand
TylerMayberry,arein
volvedinabassoonreed
studywithmentor,Dr.
MaralynSommer.As
bassoonmajors,these
studentsrelyongood
qualityreedsinorderto
producethebesttone,
intona onandflexibility
inperformance.Itisrare
thatacommercialreedis
playabledirectlyfrom
thesupplier;mostneed
ingsomeminoradjust

mentswhetherthatbeinthe
wiresthatshapethereedor
inthecaneitself.Somead
justmentsarefairlysimple
andcanbedonebythestu
dentorbanddirectorwhile
otheradjustmentsrequire
moreadvancedreedmaking
skills.Youngstudents,junior
highandhighschool,are
dependentoncommercial
reedsastheynormallydo
nothavetheexperienceor
exper setomaketheirown.
Thesestudentsrelyontheir
localmusicstorestoprovide
reedsorontheirbanddirec

torstoorderreedsfromlargemusiccompanies.
Mostdirectorsarenotawareofthemanybe er,
smallerreedcompanies,andenduppurchasing
reedsthataremediocreatbest.Cont.onpage6

Family Science Night, Fall 2015

Biology students Emily Wright and
Samantha Pennington, under the
direction of Dr. James Engman,
are making a checklist of the insects of the Simonson Biological
Field Station. They are using a
variety of collecting techniques in
various habitats across the station
property. This is the first survey
of the insect fauna of the field
station. Check out some more of
the research being conducted by

Biology students and Dr. Engman on

Pages 2 and 3.

Above:BiologystudentresearchersEmily
WrightandSamanthaPennington.

Inside this issue:

Biology Research

Family Science
Night

Seminar Series

Rowland Research

Reed Research

NASA Grant

Science Picnic

10

Le :TheSimonsonBiologicalFieldSta on

Page 2

Biology Students Conduct Elephant Research.

Undergraduateresearchconduct mitted by Dr. Tom Goodwin, Profes- Goodwin, T. E., Harelimana, I. H.,
sor of Biology at Hendrix University. MacDonald, L. J., Mark, D. B., UmuedbyDr.Engmansformerre
hire Juru, A., Yin, Q., Engman, J. A.,
searchstudentsMark Castleberry, Shannon Fiser, Jonathan Shields,
Lauren Story and Charlotte Wetzlar
appears in a book chapter regarding
chemical signaling in elephants. The
students used DNA sequencing to
identify species of bacteria present in
elephant urine during musth, a periodic condition of high testosterone
and aggressive behavior in male elephants. They took techniques that
they were using to analyze bacteria
from cave formations in Blanchard
Caverns, and analyzed samples sub-

Mark is currently in a Ph.D. program

in molecular genetics at University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine. Shannon is enrolled in the Doctor of Pharmacy Program at UAMS. Jonathan is
in the M.D. program at University of
Texas Medical Branch. Lauren is enrolled in the M.D. program at
UAMS. Charlotte is applying to programs in veterinary medicine.

Kopper, R. A., Lichti, C. F., Mackintosh, S. F., Shoemaker, J. D., Sutherland, M. V., Tackett, A. J., Schulte, B.
A. 2015. The Role of Bacteria in
Chemical Signals of Elephant Musth:
Proximate Causes and Biochemical
Pathways. Chapter 6 in Chemical
Signals in Vertebrates 13, 2015 B. A.
Schulte, M. H. Ferkin and T. E.
Goodwin, Eds., Springer Press, NY.

The following reference is for the

book chapter containing the research.

Fromle :MarkCastleberry,Charlo eWetzlar,ShannonFiser,LaurenStory,JonathanShields..

Volume 3, Issue 1

Page 3

Biology Students Present Cave Cricket Research at Annual Arkansas INBRE

Conference in Fayetteville.
At the recent INBRE conference in Fayetteville, Dr. Engmans
research students (Taylor Lee,
Itzela Cruz, Caitlin Gosch and
Leah Efird) presented a poster
titled External and Internal Bacterial Flora Survey of the cave cricket Ceuthophilus gracilipes from
Blanchard Springs Caverns, Arkansas. This is an ongoing project
that started with analysis of bacteria from cave formations, and has

expanded to look at other unique

cave components, including cave
crickets and carcasses of bats.
Leah is graduating in May, and has
applied to dental schools. Itzela
graduates in May, and has applied
to Ph.D. programs in biology. Taylor (junior) and Caitlin
(sophomore) will remain on the
project.

CaveCricketphotocourtesyofDr.RennTumlisoninthe
BiologyDepartment.

Dr.JamesEngman.PicturetakenfromFacultyProfiles
www.hsu.edu/directory/people/professors/jamesengman.html

Fromle :BiologyResearchersItzelaCruz,LeahEfird,TaylorLee
andCaitlinGosch.

Page 4

Family Science Night 2015

InOctober,membersofthe
facultyfrombiology,chemis
try,andphysicspar cipatedin
FamilyScienceNightalong
withtheBiologyClub,Chemis
tryClub,andtheSocietyof

PhysicsStudents.Thisannualeventfeatures
interac vedemonstra ons,snacks,anda
planetariumshowforkidsandadultsfrom
thelocalcommunity.Theeventisalwaysa
bighit,andwearealllookingforwardtothe
Fall2016event.
Dr.RowlandandDr.Dunlapdemonstratethe
GummyBearFlameThrower.

Dr.BradRowlanddemonstratesthe
FlamingDollarBill

Dr.DavidBatemanpreparesliquidnitro
genicecream.
Theelectricpicklelightisalwaysabighit.

Volume 3, Issue 1

Page 5

More From Family Science Night

StudentsMalloryBellandWadeGarre helplocalchildrenprepare
bouncyballs.

SeniorBiochemistryResearcherWadeGarre makes
bouncyballsfromglueandBorax.

Dr.VinceDunlapandDr.Batemanprepareliquidnitrogenicecreamwith
helpfromamemberofthecommunity.

Page 6

Undergraduate Research Presented at Biomedical Research

Conference in Fayetteville.
DuyHa,seniorbiologymajorand
memberoftheDunlapresearch
group,recentlypresentedhisre
searchattheINBREconferencein
Faye evilleonNovember5th.The
oralpresenta onwas tled
DesignofTautomericallyAmbigu
ousCytosineBasedNucleosidesas
Poten alAn HIVAgents.Duys
abstractwaschosenasoneofonly
sixtogiveanoralpresenta onin
Chemistry/Biochemistry.Duy
planstoa endmedicalschool
star ngintheFall2016.

DuyHaatINBRE

Chemistry Club Hosts Inaugural Chemistry Department Lecture Series.

Dr. Brad Rowland of Henderson State
This semester has marked the inaugu semester, we had three speakers.
spokeonhisresearchconcerningnode
ral session of the Chemistry Seminar First, Dr. Thomas E. Kreschollek,
evolu on in sech wavepackets. We
Series, hosted by the Henderson State Process Chemist at Shell Oil Com
have several outstanding speakers
UniversityChemClub.Thefocusofthe pany (and an alumnus of Hender
lined
up for the Spring 2016semester,
Seminar Series is to bring in speakers son States Chemistry Program),
including: Dr. David Bateman of Hen
from all areas of science, including in spokeoncareersforchemistswith
derson
State, Vince Signorelli of Tan
dustry, government, and academia, to in industry. Dr. Ramu Ramachan
ners (a spor ng goods company which
share their research andcareer insight dran, Execu ve Associate Dean for
uses chemistry to make be er sports
with our students. Chemistry faculty ResearchatLouisianaTechUniver
equipment), Dr. Darin Jones of UALR,
members at Henderson State also use sity,spokeonhisresearchconcern
and many more. The schedule forthe
the Seminar Series to present their ing lithium ion ba eries. Finally,
springSeminarSerieswillbepostedin
own research in an eort to recruit
January.
studentsandpublicizetheirwork.This

Right:Dr.BradRowland
PresentsDr.TomKre
schollekiwithanHSU
ChemistryClubTshirt
a erhistalk.Le :Dr.
RamuRamachandran

Volume 3, Issue 1

Page 7

Undergraduate Research News From Dr. Bradley Rowland

The Fall 2015 semester has been
verybusyfortheRowlandResearch
Group at HSU. Several students
have joined Rowlands group this
semester and we have diversified
ourresearchfoci.ColtonLechak,a
juniorbiochemistrymajor,hasbeen
workingtoexaminenodeforma on
in sech wavepackets undergoing
evolu on without a poten al ener
gysurface.Thisisunheardofinthe
quantum dynamical literature, as
the wellstudied Gaussian wave
packet does not form nodes at any
meduringitsevolu on.Currently,
Colton is u lizing the technique of
numerical analy c con nua on
(NAC) to examine the complex
extended wavepacket. It is hoped
that NAC will provide insight into
the development, evolu on, and
resolu onofthesenodes.Coltonis
making excellent progress and he
will be presen ng posters on this
work at the 251st American Chemi
cal Society Na onal Mee ng, to be
held in San Diego, CA, and at the
Arkansas Undergraduate Research
Conference, to be held in Arkadel
phia,AR,inSpring2016.
PaulBayliss,ajuniorchemistryma
jor, also joined the group. Paul is
working on a collabora ve project
inenvironmentalchemistrywithDr.
David Bateman and the Rowland
Group. Dr. Batemans group is in
terested in studying pollutant con
centra onandflowintheOuachita
River. As such, they have been
workingtocollectwatersampleson
the River for analysis here at Hen
derson. Pauls component of the
research in the Rowland Group
comprises the construc on of a

computa onal method to

studytheevolu onofpollutant
concentra on at various sam
pling points on the river. To
date,Paulhasconstructeda1
dimensional par al dieren al
equa on model of the local
Ouachita River which incorpo
ratesbothdiusionandadvec
onofpollutants,whichcanbe
evolved in me to provide a
snapshot of pollutant concen
tra ons at any point on the
river.Thismodelisveryversa
le,aswecanalsoincorporate
eects such as oxygena on
levels, chemical sources and
sinks, and pollu on reac vity
(kine cs). The computa onal
modelwillbeparameterizedso
as to give answers consistent
withactualfielddata.Theul
mate goal of this project is to
eventually make this code
available to high school stu
dents across Arkansas who
then can make their own field
measurements on local rivers
and use the computa onal
model for verifica on purpos
es. This research can also be
adapted to study and model
atmospheric pollutants, and
bothRowlandandBatemanare
highly interested in working
with students who may have
an interest in this area. Paul
will likely present a poster on
this joint work at the AURC in
Spring2016.
Finally, Wade Garre , a senior
biochemistry major, will be
joining the Rowland Group in
the Spring 2016 semester.

Wade will take on a dierent project

which entails the accurate quantum
evolu on of a WignerMoyal distribu
on in phase space. Computa onal
phasespacedynamicsisaveryexci ng
field in the area of chemical physics,
finding use in areas as diverse as
chemical reac on dynamics, quantum
op cs, and in the modeling of transi
ent states of nanoelectronic devices.
Movingtophasespacewillallowusto
conduct these quantum analyses in
cluding thermal eects u lizing the
CaldieraLegge Model. Current
methods of propaga ng the Wigner
Moyal distribu on are insucient as
they do not reproduce a cri cal fea
turenega ve basins, which is why
the WignerMoyal distribu on is
known as a pseudoprobability distri
bu on. It is hypothesized that accu
raterenderingofthenega vebasinsis
cri calinordertofullycapturethefull,
accurate quantum behavior of these
systems. Wade will likely present a
poster on this work at the AURC in
Spring2016.

Dr.BradleyA.RowlandpresentsresearchatLouisi
anaTech.University.

Page 8

Reed Research continued from page 1

ThroughthesupportoftheHSUUn
dergraduateResearchprogram,Dr.
Sommerpurchased70reedsfromsix
dierentreedmakers.Chris anand
Tylerareanalyzingthesereedsfor
qualityintuning,tone,easeofperfor
manceintonguing,slurring,range,
andallaspectsofgoodbassoonper
formance.Theyarekeepingajournal
oneachreedasitgoesthroughthe
variousstagesofbreakingin
mostgoodreedsimprovinga erthey
havebeenplayedforacoupleof
hours.Byplayingmul plereedsfrom
eachcompanythesestudentswillbe
abletoiden fythosereedmakers

thatmakeconsistentlyuseablereeds.
Atthecomple onofthestudythey
willbeabletorecommend,basedon
hoursofanalysis,reedmakersthat
canprovidegoodqualityreedsto
youngstudents.
Thesecondpartofthisresearchisthe
developmentofreedmakingskillsby
TylerandChris an.Makingbassoon
reedsisanartinitselfandsomething
thatrequireshoursofprac cebefore
onecanconsistentlymakegoodquali
tyreeds.BothTylerandChris anwill
bedevelopingtheseskillsthroughout
thespringsemester.Theywillbere

searchingthemanycaneshapesandprofiles
availableanddeterminingwhichstylereed
isbestsuitedtotheirpersonalperformance
needs.A erhavinganalyzedthecommer
cialreeds,theywillbebe erableto
createtheirownreedstyle.
Thefallsemesterhasbeenalearningexperi
enceforDr.Sommeraswellasthestudents.
Tryingtodevelopamethodofanalysisthat
canbeusedonallcommercialreedsand
tryingtofindterminologythatallthreere
searchersagreeonfordocumen ngthe
reedresponsehasbeenchallenging.
Whilethestudyiss llataveryyoungstage,
itisprovingtobeaworthwhileandeduca
onalexperienceforall.

Volume 3, Issue 1

Page 9

NASA Funds Polymer Research

EmilyReynebeau,abiologymajorfrom
Springdale,andDr.MartyCampbellre
ceivedaArkansasSpaceGrantConsor um
(ASGC)granttocon nueresearchonionic
liquidbasedpolymermaterials.TheASGC
receivesfundingfromNASAtofundre
searchac vi esthatinsomewayfurther
NASAsoverallmission.Ionicliquidsare
compoundscomposedofposi velycharged
organicmoleculespairedwithnega vely
chargedorganicorinorganicionsthatto
getherformasalt.Ioniccompoundstypi
callyhaveveryli levaporpressure(smell)
andarethereforeofinterestinenclosed
environmentssuchasspacetravelcapsules

orlivingquarters.Emilyhasbeencon
duc ngresearchwithDr.Campbell
sinceAugust,andhaspreparedseveral
ionicliquidshavingsidegroupsthat
mayreasonablybeexpectedtoform
polyestertypepolymers.Sheplansto
spendthespringfocusingonpolymeri
za on.Thegrantprovidesa$1000
s pendforEmilyandtravelmoneyfor
Dr.Campbelltoarrangeforasitevisit
withEmilytoana onalNASAlaborato
ry.Inthepast,Dr.Campbellhasinvit
edotherinterestedchemistrymajors
toaccompanyhimonthetrip,asout

reachispartofthegrantrequirements.We
alsohopetopresentresultsattheSpring
2016na onalmee ngoftheAmerican
ChemicalSocietyandelsewhere.

Chemistry Department Holds Safety Meeting for Student Workers and Researchers.
The HSU Chemistry Department held is regular safety meeting in August to begin the Fall semester. The meeting is designed to reinforce the departments
commitment to maintaining a culture of safety among faculty , students, workers and researchers. This falls meeting was focused on the importance of
proper labeling of chemicals and chemical waste, as well as the proper disposal of chemical waste. The HSU Chemistry Club hosted the meeting and provided pizza and soft drinks. The meeting is mandatory for all student workers, undergraduate researchers and Chemistry Club members, as well as the
Chemistry Department Faculty.

ChemistryDepartmentSafetyMee ngFall2015.

T. David Bateman
Director of Undergraduate Research

Phone: 870-230-5306

HSU Box 7651

E-mail: batemat@hsu.edu

Reynolds 307

Annual Chemistry and Biology Clubs and Society of

Physics Students Fall Picnic.
Held at the Lower Dam Recreation Area on the Caddo River.

HSU Research
Suggestions
Any suggestions for
undergraduate research, this newsletter,
etc. are welcome. Please
send me an email with
suggestions,\questions,
and I will be happy to
get back to you. I hope I
have not left anyone out
of this newsletter, and I
am sure there are mistakes. Rest assured, I
hope to improve Reddie
Research with every issue.