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The Project Pathways Biodiversity
Summer Institute was made possible by the NSF-STEP Program
at Eastfield College in collaboration with the Big Thicket
National Preserve. The purpose of the program is to encourage
students to consider careers in the sciences by providing
them with hands on experience and access to sophisticated
research equipment that is not usually available at the undergraduate
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The
students spent the rest of the summer working on their
research project at the NSF-STEP Microscopy Lab on campus.
They used state of the art equipment such as the scanning
electron microscope in their research.
On July 25, 2008 each student gave an oral presentation
of their experimental results and also received achievement
certificates for their efforts in the Eastfield College
science building. |
| Michael
Black is a Beaumont, Texas native who
began making photographs as a child, returning
again and again to the same patches of forest
and beach. The Beauty and Mystery he encountered
deep within the Big Thicket National Preserve
and surrounding region ignited a lifelong artistic
dialog with the land. |
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After studying fine art at The University of
Texas, Michael left to explore the landscapes
of Southwest Colorado where he operated his
own gallery. In time, his heart called him back
to the luscious swamps, hidden flora and waters
of Southeast Texas.
It is his joy to give voice to these sometimes
subtle, other times dramatic, states of abundant
beauty.
Michael is dedicated to sharing his love of
the Big Thicket through his art, working with
The Big Thicket Association, the All Taxa Biodiversity
Inventory, and through teaching nature photography
workshops to individuals and small groups.
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Dr. Bryan Boulanger joined the Texas
A&M faculty as an assistant professor within
the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering’s
Environmental and Water Resources Division in
August of 2007.
Research in the Boulanger laboratory employs
a multidisciplinary approach involving laboratory
and field studies to work on many projects covering
areas of water, energy, and sustainability.
Educational interests seek to integrate research
results by providing hands on learning opportunities
for multigenerational audiences.
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Dr. Jerry
Cook is currently the Associate Vice
President for Research at Sam Houston State University
(SHSU). Prior to this appointment, he served as
a Program Director at the National Science Foundation
and as an Associate Professor in the Department
of Biological Sciences at SHSU.
The regular courses Jerry taught were non-major’s
Contemporary Biology, Zoology, and Entomology,
however, he taught sections of fourteen other
classes since coming to SHSU in 1998.
Dr. Cook is currently conducting research on the
ecology and systematics of the insect families
Formicidae and Strepsiptera, as well as having
a National Science Foundation grant to work on
aquatic insects and their parasites. The Cook
lab includes four graduate students and two undergraduates.
Other activities of Jerry Cook include being the
first President of the Big Thicket All Taxa Biological
Inventory and Associate Editor of the Southwestern
Naturalist.
Dr. Cook and his wife, Dr. Tamara Cook (a parasitiologist
and Associate Dean at SHSU) live outside of Huntsville,
Texas. |
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| David Lewis
began study at Lamar as a chemistry major but
changed to environmental science. Interest in
organic chemistry and the exotic compounds to
be found in fungi and plants led Lewis to a graduate
degree in biology. He started photographing mushrooms
at about the same time. |
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While
developing his avocation as a mycologist, Lewis
worked as a chemist at Great Lakes Carbon in
Port Arthur for a number of years before moving
to Temple Inland (the mill is now Mead Westvaco).
He retired in August of 2004 and now plans to
spend more time writing and organizing his collections
he has 500 to 750 in the process.
Lewis has donated around 5,000 collections to
museums around the country.Most are at the Field
Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Lewis
has co-authored a description of a new species
from Mississippi and Texas in Mycotaxon and
is working with other mycologists on papers
on several other new species.
Lewis is president of the Gulf States Mycological
Society, which has members from Florida to central
Texas.
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Graduate
Student Mentors
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Ishan
Desai
Texas A&M Univ. |
Rick
Lewis
Sam Houston State Univ.
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Eddie
Realzola
Sam Houston State Univ.
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Ants
& Beetles
Mentors: Eddie Realzola
& Rick Lewis, graduate students from Sam Houston State
Univ
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Field of Study:
Beetle Compound Eye |
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Project was to determine the
morphological structure of the gyrinidae beetle compound eye
and whether the length and size within each eye is due to
the different sex, or species, of beetles.
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click
thumbnails below for larger view |
| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Field of Study:
Leaf Litter Ants |
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Project was to study the antennae
structures of several species of these tiny leaf-litter ants
living in the dead leaves and other debris found near rotting
tree limbs.
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click
thumbnails below for larger view |
| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Bryophytes
& Sedges
Mentor: Dale Kruse
(Texas A&M Univ)
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Field
of Study: Bryophytes
(moss) |
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Project was to determine
germination type—perennial or annual—through the
morphology of several species of Rhyncospora using the TM-1000
scanning electron microscope.
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click
thumbnails below for larger view |
| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Field
of Study:
Sedges (plants) |
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Project
was to observe alternative morphological characteristics using
scanning electron microscopy.
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| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Fungi
Mentor: David Lewis
(Mycologist)
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Field
of Study: Fungi (mushrooms) |
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Project involved analyzing
and comparing the reproductive spores of fungi to see if it
is possible to identify the mushroom from which it came!
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click
thumbnails below for larger view |
| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Field
of Study: Fungi (mushrooms) |
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Project involved investigating
whether different species of Lactarius can be grouped together
based on spore morphology.
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| Field
Pictures |
Microscopic
Lab Images |
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Water
Quality & Ecological Engineering
Mentors: Ishan Desai
& Dr. Bryan Boulanger (Texas A&M University)
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Field
of Study: Water Quality |
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Project was to collect water
samples from Northeast Texas reservoirs for comparison to
the water quality in samples taken in Southeast Texas in the
Big Thicket National Preserve.
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below for larger view |
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SEM equipment was not needed for this project
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Field
of Study: Water Quality |
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Project was to research the
effects of adding iron oxide to a ceramic point-of-use potable
water filter to aid in the reduction of arsenic in drinking
water.
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click thumbnails
below for larger view |
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SEM equipment was not needed for this project |
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Field
of Study: Water Quality |
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Project was to test the effects
of arsenic removal filters made from local clays.
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click thumbnails
below for larger view |
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The SEM equipment was not needed for this project
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Dr. Carol Brown
Dr. Carl Knight
Melanie Gill-Shaw
Jeff Hughes
Dr. Mark Presley
Dr. Jennifer Baggett
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President, Eastfield College
Principal Investigator, Eastfield College Professor of Anatomy
and Physiology
Eastfield College, Interim Dean, Resource and Community Development,
Grant Administration
Associate Professor, Biology, Eastfield College
Dean, Science and Physical Education, Eastfield College
NSF-STEP Research Coordinator |
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