News Releases

Turtle Movement Is Focus of Undergraduate Student Research

Paul Converse, an Alma College sophomore from Engadine, is one of 16 grant recipients from the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute through the Undergraduate Research Grants for the Environment program.

The Pierce Cedar Creek Institute is a biological field station located south of Hastings.

The URGE program provides a $3,000 stipend for students conducting summer research at the Institute, along with up to a $3,000 faculty mentor stipend that can be used for equipment purchases, general expenses, travel or training needed for conducting the research project.

Additionally, each grant award allows for up to $4,000 in room and board expenses for the student and faculty mentor. Students will arrive at the Institute in early May and stay through August.

Converse, a biology major, and his faculty mentor, biology professor John Rowe, propose to study the activity, body temperature variation and movements of Midland Painted Turtles at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute’s Brewster Lake. Using radio telemetry, they plan to monitor movements in order to determine the impact of weather patterns, microhabitat use, and gender on activity and movements.

This is the third year of the URGE program.

“We are continuously amazed at the caliber of students who apply for the research grant,” said Michelle Skedgell, executive director of the Institute. “These students are the top-notch students at their home institutions. Several of our researchers from the first summer are now being accepted to graduate school or entering the workforce.”

Converse is the son of Danette and Joseph Converse of Engadine.

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The Alma College Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team has won 11 consecutive regional championships. The competition awards the SIFE teams that are most effective in teaching the principles of market economics through outreach projects in their communities. Last year’s team presented 12 projects, including teaching ethics and entrepreneurship skills to students at a juvenile detention center and launching an entrepreneurship competition for students with business ideas.

 

Faculty Profile

Dr. Catherine Fobes

Dr. Catherine Fobes
Departments: Sociology and Anthropology

According to Dr. Catherine Fobes, sociology makes the most sense when it is done interactively; therefore her lectures encourage student engagement and participation.