Student Opportunities
In addition to traditional classroom and laboratory work, the Biology Department offers its students a number of other opportunities that strengthen their academic, classroom work. Students may participate in work study, internships, independent study, and in faculty-led research.
Work Study
Preparing equipment and materials for laboratories requires much more time than Faculty have available. In addition, special projects often require additional help. Students are an invaluable resource for these jobs and Work Study provides a venue for student assistance. Students who demonstrate an interest in learning more about the preparation of labs, the operation of biological equipment, and have financial need are encouraged to apply for these positions.
Internships
"One needs a job to gain experience, but experience is needed to obtain a job." This familiar reality of life can be frustrating to anyone entering the work force. While the Biology Faculty place a high priority on developing critical, scientific thinking in its students, they also are concerned that biology graduates are placed in jobs. Internships provide students opportunities to gain work experience while still a student. In this way, students gain professional knowledge and contacts. Students have completed internships with local natural areas (e.g., Pilot Knob State Park, Rice Lake Wildlife Management Unit) and with federal agencies (e.g., USDA Forest Service, USDI Geological Survey - Biological Resources Division).
Independent Study
Science is a way of thinking, a way of knowing. Scientists are hopelessly curious - we have a need to know and constantly ask questions about this fantastic world in which we live. This practice of asking questions and learning how to answer them begins with a college education. Besides training students in the knowledge and techniques of biology, the Biology Department encourages its students to begin exploring their world - to begin asking questions and ways to answer them. In this way, our students become critical and independent thinkers.
The best way for students to develop their scientific thinking is to complete an independent study. In this experience, students first identify a question then work with a faculty member to design an effective way to answer it. Students then work independently to run the experiments and gather the data that will provide the answers. Each student finishes the work by writing a synthetic paper that describes and results and their meaning, and how they help answer the student's question. Students strengthen the College's educational program by giving a public presentation of their work during Inquirere, a campus event held each spring. This is an ambitious project for college sophomores.
Examples of Independent Studies that sophomore students have completed include:
Movements and Habitat Use of Leopard Frogs on the Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge. Numerous populations of frogs have declined in the Midwest, including leopard frogs in northern Iowa. Our understanding of the cause and nature of these declines are limited by a general lack of information on the natural history of amphibians. This student used radio-telemetry to study the movements and habitat use of leopard frogs on a national wildlife refuge located west of Forest City, Iowa.
The Effects of Human Activity on Water Quality in Winnebago County. A variety and intensity of human activities has greatly changed the quality of water over the last 100-200 years. What is the current quality of water and how do different activities affect it? This student helped design the water quality monitoring program currently conducted by the Biology Department and reported some of the first data.
Effects of the Zone of Polarizing Activity (ZPA) as a Primary Organizer in Chick Embryos. The development of an adult from a fertilized egg is a marvelous and complex process. Biologists have discovered that certain compounds, concentrated in particular regions of an embryo, play a central role in guiding development of the entire embryo. This student studied chick embryos and tested the effects of a small region of the wing bud on the development of the entire wing.
Effects of Selected Compounds on the Development of Chick Embryos. Human societies have produced a myriad of chemical compounds to improve their life style and standard of living. All of them eventually enter the environment and some (e.g., pesticides) are applied directly to crops and enter the food chain. What effect might some of these pesticides have on the development of vertebrate embryos?
Effects of Ultraviolet Light on the Development of Eggs and Larvae of Rana pipiens. Many different factors may be related to widespread declines of amphibian populations. One of these may be the increased incidence of ultraviolet light hitting the earth's surface that results from the continued degradation of the atmospheric ozone layer. These students tested the sensitivity of eggs and larvae of leopard frogs to increased levels of ultraviolet light.
Observing the Action of Bacterial Flagella. Some bacteria are highly motile and use one or more flagella to move through growing media and tissues. The specific action of flagella in providing this motility was unknown until a classic study completed in the 1970's provided a clear demonstration of flagellar action. This student successfully repeated this study.
Effects of Pheromones on the Learning Behavior of Gerbils. Pheromones are hormones released by one individual that has an effect on another individual. Pheromones have a greater effect on behavior than were expected. In this study, a student demonstrated how pheromones can greatly increase learning in gerbils.
Morphological Analysis and Classification of Hair from 30 Species of Mammals. People recognize different species of mammals by large, recognizable differences in color, shape of body or body parts, type of teeth, etc. Minute differences also separate species of mammals, such as differences in the morphology of guard hairs. This study carefully measured hairs from 30 different mammals and developed a scheme for identifying them.
Research Opportunities
Research is the application of biological knowledge and techniques to answer questions about our world. It provides the foundation for modern biological theory, drives the discipline of biology, and provides a basis for our modern technological society and economy (e.g., medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, natural resource management, energy).
A college science program is incomplete without a research component - it is the faculty's version of a student's Independent Study and provides opportunities for students to become active in their discipline.
Waldorf's Biology Faculty maintain active research projects and regularly include students to assist in the collection and analysis of data. Some students also have given presentations of their work at scientific conferences (e.g., Iowa Academy of Science).
Examples of projects in which students have assisted include:
- A Breeding Bird Survey of Pilot Knob State Park (near Forest City, Iowa)
- Annual Iowa Winter Raptor Survey (State of Iowa)
- Evaluation of Ecological Old Growth Forest (Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming)
- Effects of Logging on the Reproduction of Wood Frogs (Medicine Bow National Forest)
- Status, Movements, and Habitat Use of Leopard Frogs on the Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge (near Titonka, Iowa)
Current or developing projects include:
- Ecological Modeling of Amphibian Habitats in Yellowstone National Park and Idaho
- Monitoring of Surface & Ground Water Quality in Winnebago County, Iowa
- Importance of Private Agricultural Lands to the Movements of Leopard Frogs in northern Iowa
- Effect of Reclaimed Wetlands on the Distribution and Movements of Amphibians in northern Iowa
"The method of science as stody and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science"
-Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
