Faces of SRAP: Emily Stone and Savanna Umberger

Emily Stone and Savanna Umberger have always had a passion for psychology, and both plan to make a career of it.

Emily, a recent high school graduate from Orem, Utah plans to study psychology and political science this fall when she starts college at Connecticut College.

“I love psychology and I’m pretty sure that’s what I want to do,” she says. “I would like to be a psychologist that specializes in eating disorders.”

Emily is working in Dr. Walt Scott’s Psychology lab, with Shannon Blakey, a graduate student in the psychology department.

From left to right:
Savanna Umberger, Shannon Blakey, and Emily Stone

“My project has to do with rape myth belief,” Emily says. “I hope to gain a better understanding of rape culture and what we can do to change it.”

Savanna, a senior in high school from Hanna, Wyoming, also enjoys psychology and plans to study psychology after she graduates high school.  

When asked about psychology, Savanna says, “It’s always interested me. I took a psychology class in high school and it just really caught my interest from the beginning.”

Like Emily, Savanna is working in Dr. Scott’s lab, but on a different project.

“My project is the correlation between substance abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” she says. Savanna is interested in understanding “why people with PTSD turn to substances and alcohol and how PTSD develops.”

Emily and Savanna like their projects, and have enjoyed the opportunity to study psychology and ask questions.

“Both Emily and Savanna are really learning to appreciate that these are all phenomenon most people experience to some degree,” says Shannon. “Having a better understanding of these associations could help us design better ways to help these people and help them reclaim their lives.”

SRAP is a six-week, intensive research program for high school students. It is based at the University of Wyoming and is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR. To learn more about the program, click here, or search "SRAP" in the archives. 

By Robin Rasmussen

Photo by Robert Waggener

Faces of SRAP: Sarah Fanning and Virgil Morrison

Although they’re still getting all of the details of their project worked out, Sarah Fanning and Virgil Morrison both enjoy what they’re doing in the Botany department, and they love collecting ecological data.

“We went out to the field last week to measure trees,” says Sarah Fanning, a senior from Colorado. “That was really fun.”

From left to right:
Virgil Morrison, Dr. Brent Ewers, Sarah Fanning

“I’ve learned a lot in the lab, but I definitely like to be outside,” says Virgil, a recent high school graduate from Riverton, WY.

Sarah and Virgil are working in Dr. Brent Ewers Botany lab this summer, studying the effects of pine beetles for their Summer Research Apprentice Program research project.

Sarah and Virgil have different passions, but both of them greatly enjoy science.

Sarah enjoys Paleontology, and plans to make a career out of it.

“I’ve never done Botany before, I’ve never worked with anything that hasn’t been dead for 50 million years,” she says. “I’m excited to see how living things are right now, in their purest form instead of their fossilized form.”

Like Sarah, Virgil enjoys science, specifically Biology.

“I like seeing and learning about what’s going on where I go,” he says. “I just really enjoy it, I have a really good teacher, so that made it fun for me.”

Both Sarah and Virgil look forward to a summer filled with research and exciting new opportunities.

SRAP is a six-week, intensive research program for high school students. It is based at the University of Wyoming and is sponsored by Wyoming EPSCoR. To learn more about the program, click here, or search "SRAP" in the archives.

By Robin Rasmussen

Photo by Robert Waggener

The 2014 Summer Research Apprentice Program Begins!

SRAP student Holden meets
his mentor, Franco Basile

With the school year coming to a close, many students are preparing for summer jobs, vacations and relaxation. But for 22 students from around the United States, their summer plans include gearing up for the 2014 Summer Research Apprentice Program (SRAP), a 6-week, intensive research program at the University of Wyoming.

On June 8^th, students arrived in Laramie, WY to begin a summer of research, education and fun. Each student was placed in a lab to work with a mentor, to spend the next six weeks conducting research and learning new concepts. Participating departments on campus represent a diverse array of STEM fields including botany, engineering, psychology, hydrology, geology and geophysics. At the end of the program, each student will write an in-depth research paper and present their research to their peers and mentors.

SRAP 2014 Staff and Program Coordinator, Lisa Abeyta (right)

 “SRAP is a great program to introduce high school students into college life,” says Lisa Abeyta, Student Research Programs Coordinator. “This program not only allows students to gain experience in the lab, but also to gain a sense of independence.”

Over 200 students applied for a spot in the 29^th annual SRAP program. Of that, twenty-two exceptional students were chosen to participate.

Outside of the lab, students will create friendships with other participants, take educational field trips, and enjoy all that Laramie and the surrounding area has to offer.

Last year, students hiked the trails at Vedauwoo, visited the Denver Zoo, took part in an etiquette dinner and practiced yoga, along with other fun activities. Many additional activities are planned for students this year, including a night at the Jelm Mountain Observatory outside Laramie.

SRAP 2014 participants

SRAP is Wyoming EPSCoR’s longest running program. It was started in 1985 to provide minority and first-generation, college-bound students with hands-on experience in the STEM fields.

“We are proud of SRAP and the students that have come through the program,” Lisa says. “Students have gone on to pursue their goals and achieve their dreams.”

Stay tuned to our blog this summer for weekly highlights on SRAP participants and their research! You can read all about past participants by searching “SRAP” in our archives.

By Robin Rasmussen
Photos by Robin Rasmussen and Robert Waggener

WiMSE begins second year at UW

As the fall semester at the University of Wyoming begins, WiMSE (Women in Math, Science and Engineering) gears up for its second year of supporting women majoring in the STEM fields. WiMSE began last year as a way to connect female undergraduate and graduate students studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) following a survey that found women majoring in these fields at UW often lacked a sense of community. This year, WiMSE began with a luncheon focused on research. Four researchers from across campus shared their perspectives on the importance of participating in research as student as well as ideas and advice for doing so.

Across the board, the panelists said that research during an undergraduate career opens up possibilities for the future because it offers opportunities for preparation, discerning likes and dislikes in a field and gaining valuable experience.

“Don’t worry about messing up,” said Dr. Danny Dale, professor and current Head of the Physics and Astronomy Department. “Enjoy the struggle. That is where learning happens.”

Dr. Sarah Konrad, a glaciologist and currently the Associate Project Director at EPSCoR, agreed. “Don’t quit on something until you stop getting better,” she said. “Think about your goal for working on a project before you begin one.”

Dr. Andy Hansen, Associate Provost and professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. Henry “Chip” Kobulnicky, professor in Physics and Astronomy, also participated on the panel.  

A complete schedule of this year’s WiMSE events can be found at: http://www.uwyo.edu/womenscenter/wimse/. WiMSE is supported by the UW Women’s Center, the NASA Space Grant, Wyoming EPSCoR, the School of Energy Resources/Science Posse, INBRE, Engineering and SEO.

By Kali S. McCrackin

Measurements and Modeling: A Look into the Hydrologic side of Wyoming

In the next few months, you might notice a flurry of activity and an influx of equipment in the Snowy Range, especially if you aren’t one for sticking to the trails. If you stumble upon a stream with an equipment draped tower nearby, you may have found one of the watershed research sites for the Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG). Though it may look like a jumble of metal and plastic, each piece of equipment is busy acquiring important data about water to help teams of researchers at the University of Wyoming better understand water in Wyoming and the West.



A water sampler

WyCEHG was established by a five-year National Science Foundation grant with the goal of providing water resource managers, stakeholders, and scientists with cutting-edge knowledge and tools to improve water management. As the headwater state for many of its neighbors, Wyoming has to ensure that water allocations are met and that Wyoming communities still have enough water. To do this, it is essential to have a complete picture of the natural water system, which is currently not well understood. WyCEHG brings together researchers from a multitude of fields to help create this complete picture along with two support facilities: the Facility for Imaging the Near and Subsurface Environment (FINSE) and the Surface and Subsurface Hydrology Lab (SSHL). This week we’ll look at SSHL and the hydrological side of WyCEHG.

“SSHL is not just a location where equipment is stored,” says Elizabeth Traver, the faculty manager of SSHL. “It’s kind of a research and training umbrella to help people figure out what instruments they need and get them out in the field.”



A tipping bucket

Since her start at UW in December, 2012, Traver has been busy helping researchers prepare for their field work. “I’m facilitating researchers, whether they’re undergraduate students or professors, with their research and equipment,” she says. “People are telling me what they need and I’m purchasing those items so that they’ll be here when they need them.”

While the bulk of WyCEHG research will happen during the summer months, some projects are already underway. In addition to on-going field projects centered on meteorological observations linked to tree respiration, soil water and the transport of water though our mountain systems and into streams, two emerging projects focus on snow. Snow is an essential part of the hydrologic picture in Wyoming where most river and ground water comes from snowmelt. One project looks at how much water is actually coming from snow by using a snow equivalency instrument.

                “Snow can have a little or a lot of moisture in it: light, fluffy snow compared to wet, heavy snow,” says Traver. “So what a snow water equivalency instrument does is it actually tells you how much water is in the snow that fell, because the water itself is what is important and not how deep the snow is.”

The other project is about snow isotopes, or the variants of chemical elements in the snow.



“You can take the isotopes in the snow and determine the possible origin of that snow based on the isotope relationships,” Traver says.

By developing a library of isotopes in rainfall, snow, groundwater and streams, the WyCEHG team will gain a better understanding of the ultimate fate of our rain and snow and address the critical questions: does it end up back in the air through evaporation, down in the ground or glowing through our rivers?

A map of the watershed in the Snowy Range Mountains

An undergraduate student has begun to collect snow samples from around the Snow Range Ski area, which he will study using isotope analyzers. While the bulk of winter research is centered on snow sampling, researchers are also preparing for the spring thaw. The area of focus for the summer is a small unnamed creek that drains into Libby Creek, which flows into the Little Laramie River downstream from Laramie.

“There are things that we want set up before the snow starts to melt because we want to be ready for the most important time of the year, water-wise,” says Traver. “We will be putting a whole bunch of instruments on the tower with the ones already out there. We’re just trying to get as much detail as we can from that one specific area.”

The ultimate goal of studying this one watershed in so much detail is to create a water model that can be used in other watersheds.

“The idea is, measure everything, put these parameters in the model and figure out which processes are most important,” Traver says. “Then we can go to a different watershed, measure just those parameters and see if our models will work.”

This type of approach, linking measurements and models, will ultimately help water resource managers, stakeholders and scientists understand what happens to every drop of water in the watershed. This knowledge will help empower them to make scientifically founded decisions about water use and allocation.

 

By Kali S. McCrackin

Photos courtesy of WyCEHG

Faces of Science: Following Family Footsteps and Going Beyond the Horizon

Dr. Li with her daughter and husband on a hiking trip near Laramie.

Dr. Dongmei “Katie” Li has a unique perspective on being an engineer. Not only is she one of just two women professors in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department at the University of Wyoming, she also knows what it is like to be in the shoes of an international student and a member of a minority group. However, while her experiences and perspectives may be different than many of her colleagues, Dr. Li became interested in engineering in the same way that many engineers do: through family.

Like many engineers, Dr. Li started in the field because of her father. From the time she was young she wanted to be a chemical engineer.

“My dad is in chemical engineering,” Dr. Li says. “I started (into engineering) with the motivation of wanting to help with the family business.”

This motivation led Dr. Li to pursue her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Shandong University and her M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Tianjin University in China. From China, Dr. Li moved halfway around to world to earn her Ph.D. at Colorado University Boulder (CU Boulder).

 “I had trouble understanding my professors my first semester,” she says, laughing. “I was taking seventeen graduate level credit hours which was extremely overwhelming. I tried to make friends, but most of the time people had a hard time understanding me. The first semester was tough, but luckily math and a chemical background were there, so I could read the books and do the homework.”

Dr. Li stayed at CU Boulder for her post-doc, but rather than continue with fundamental research topics, she decided to take a more applied approach.

“I happened to have the opportunity to work on a project that was very applied. It was a collaboration between CU Boulder and Sandia National Laboratories, and was sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),” Dr. Li says. “That project was very crucial for me because it made me enjoy science and research again after being burned out by theoretical research at the end of graduate school.”

Dr. Li’s graduate school experience helped her develop techniques for problem solving by relying on science and her post-doc project introduced her to the refreshing world of applied science. Both of these experiences were instrumental in preparing her for her first job as a Senior Process Engineer at Intel Corporation, where she was one of the only women and minorities- both of which created a challenge due to the culture of the company. At first, she was seen through stereotypes, consequently resulting in unnecessary barriers between her and a few coworkers who had a different background.

“No doubt it was frustrating at the beginning,” Dr. Li says. “But then I learned that I had to earn respect from people who had been there for a long time and made their way up from the bottom, without an advanced or even college degree.”

Dr. Li overcame the stereotypes by using data and logic. As in graduate school, she relied on her knowledge in the field to address the challenge of the company culture and to succeed in that environment. When she left Intel, Dr. Li carried with her the importance of being flexible because, as she says, it is important to be able to deal with the unexpected issues, which arise in every job.

“You can only plan to a certain degree,” she says. “The rest are things you can’t control.”

While Dr. Li started out in chemical engineering to help with the family business, she did not return to China and her father is now retired. Instead, she followed opportunities and experienced a variety of career options and cultures. Despite any difficulties, the diversity of the cultures she has worked in has been the best part of her career.

“I think my favorite part of my job at Intel had to be being able to have the opportunity to interact with people from diverse backgrounds in terms of their seniority in the company, education level and personal background,” Dr. Li says. “Now, being a professor I get to work with many students and collaborate with other professors on this campus, the Front Range (CU Boulder and Colorado State University) and nationwide. That is very enjoyable.”

Working with students, especially international students, is a highlight of her work at UW, especially because she knows what it is like to be in their shoes. Though she does not like to give advice, to foreign students she says, “No matter what you are facing, do one thing at a time, and do it well, and opportunity will come knocking at your door.”

To all students, she advises, “Don’t limit yourself. The world is fascinating. There are so many opportunities and I think being into science and technology opens doors you wouldn’t otherwise know exist.” 

By Kali S. McCrackin

Photo courtesy of Dr. Dognmei Li