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Marilyn Steyert and Max Madden awarded funding for SMP research

Two students conducting their St. Mary’s Project research with Dr. Aileen Bailey, professor of psychology and Aldom-Planseon Honors College Professor, have received grants to support their work. Marilyn Steyert was recently awarded a $918 grant through the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society to support her research and in recognition of her academic achievement. A graduating senior, Marilyn is majoring in Biology, with minors in Neuroscience and Music. She is continuing past research on the project entitled “Understanding the action of novel fast-acting antidepressant, L-655,708 in the brain” under the guidance of Dr. Bailey. Another student working on research in Dr. Bailey’s lab is graduating senior Max Madden, a double major in Biochemistry and Psychology. He has received $1,500 in funding through the Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant to support his St. Mary’s Project: “Examination of the Mechanism of the Fast Acting Antidepressant L-655,708.” Since July 2015, Dr. Bailey’s research lab has been primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health, via a subaward with University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Using rats as test subjects, Marilyn and Max are analyzing the effects of a specific drug on synapse strength within neurons in certain areas of the brain. The grant money received from Sigma Xi is being used to visualize and study certain proteins within cells. Changes in behavior and synaptic strength will be analyzed to see the effects of L-655,708 in the rats brain. Marilyn hopes to show the potential of this drug for future use in humans, due to its rapid neurological changes in rats. As with all research conducted on vertebrate animals at St. Mary’s College, Marilyn and Max’s work was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Marilyn is the President of Tri Beta, the Biological Honor Society at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and is also involved in BioPump, a program that supports Biology students’ academic success. After graduation, Marilyn hopes to continue her academic education and become a professor. Max was a member of the St. Mary’s men’s Swim Team and plans to continue his education in graduate school after leaving St. Mary’s College. Marilyn and Max are two of many talented students to receive a grant through an honor society here at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

St. Mary’s College Participates in Council on Undergraduate Research Transformations Project

Pamela Mertz, Professor of Chemistry and CBC Chair, with St. Mary’s College students

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Transformations Project will kick off this weekend, October 27-29, at The College of New Jersey, where the CUR-recruited consultants and departmental teams will begin their sustained work together for the next four years. Attending the meeting on behalf of St. Mary’s College is administrative co-lead of the project, Christine Wooley, interim associate dean of curriculum,  and departmental co-leads Aileen Bailey, Pamela Mertz, and Kelly Neiles.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is one of only 12 institutions selected by CUR for its Transformations Project, funded by the National Science Foundation. The Transformations Project will revise traditional four-year undergraduate curricula in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology by focusing on high-quality undergraduate research throughout the four years of a student’s major. Participants from institutions around the country will directly engage in novel research to study the student, faculty, departmental, and disciplinary influences on the process of integrating and scaffolding undergraduate research experiences throughout the curriculum in two of the four possible disciplines.

A team of 16 faculty and staff members at St. Mary’s College are participating, including principal investigator and co-lead Sabine Loew Dillingham, director of the office of research & sponsored programs.

The full team is comprised of:

  • Michael Wick, provost and dean of faculty
  • Anne Marie Himmelheber Brady, director of the office of institutional research
  • Pamela Mertz, CBC’s chair & professor of chemistry
  • Kelly Neiles, assistant professor of chemistry
  • Andrew Koch, professor of chemistry
  • Randolph Larsen, professor of chemistry
  • Daniel Chase, assistant professor of chemistry
  • Geoffrey Bowers, assistant professor of chemistry
  • Aileen Bailey, Aldom-Planseon Honors College Professor of psychology
  • Nathaniel Foster, assistant professor of psychology
  • Cynthia Koenig, associate professor of psychology
  • James Mantell, assistant professor of psychology
  • Jennifer Tickle, associate professor of psychology
  • Elizabeth Nutt Williams, professor of psychology & chair of the psychology department
  • Christine Wooley, interim associate dean of curriculum
  • Sabine Loew Dillingham, director of the office of research & sponsored programs

SMCM Student Research Projects Generating Steady Interest

The team of student and professors working on vCalc projects

The team of students and professors working on vCalc projects

A grant jointly funded by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program and vCalc LLC in 2016 continues to generate steady interest at vCalc.com. St. Mary’s College of Maryland was awarded $97,361 to support student projects for vCalc.

The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program promotes the development and commercialization of products and processes through industry/university research partnerships. MIPS provides matching funds to help Maryland companies pay for the university research. Projects are initiated by the companies to meet research and development goals.

vCalc (see 90 second YouTube video here) is a fast-growing calculator, equation and dataset library that helps users create, collaborate and quickly calculate. Topics range from complex scientific equations to practical everyday equations. vCalc has hundreds of calculators and thousands of equations created by engineers, professors and students from around the world.

The St. Mary’s research team developed equations for vCalc.com in math, chemistry, psychology, physics, and economics during the summer of 2016. The team was composed of students Caleb Svobodny, Austin Schlegel, Daria Vaseneva, Emma Skekel, Tyler Jones, Caroline Robertson, Savannah Bergen and Chris Lynch. Professors Emek Kose, Josh Grossman, Richard Platt, Randolph Larsen and Shizuka Nishikawa supported the project.

Kurt Heckman, president of vCalc, recently reported that several of the calculators created by SMCM students posted at vCalc.com are generating significant regular traffic to the site, including Savannah Bergen’s Characteristic Polynomial of a 3×3 matrix, which regularly gets used over 1,000 times per month, and Emma Skekel’s chemistry calculator to compute Kp from Kc, which sees 1,700 page hits per month, with an average time on page of 12 minutes and 38 seconds! According to Heckman, “that’s terrific engagement, and clearly an indication of how useful this calculator has become to chemistry students”.

SMCM Psychology Major Awarded Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant

Picture of Claire Kostelnik

Claire Kostelnik – Recipient of Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant

Senior psychology major Claire Kostelnik ’17 was selected as a recipient of a Psi Chi 2016-2017 Fall Undergraduate Research Grant for her SMP: “Intracerebral Injections of L655, 708 on Depressive-like Behavior.” Kostelnik is conducting the research under the mentorship of Aileen Bailey, Professor of Psychology and recipient of the college’s Aldom-Plansoen Distinguished Professorship.

Kostelnik received $1,500 to support her research which focuses on depression, a leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Together, Kostelnik and Bailey are continuing ongoing research in Dr. Bailey’s lab by exploring the antidepressant actions of a new drug (L655, 708) on a population of lab rats. They hope to demonstrate similar antidepressant actions as found in depression therapy drugs such as ketamine, without the typical 3-8 week effect delay.

Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology. SMCM has a large and active Psi Chi chapter, with dozens of members and annual recipients of student research grants.

Bailey and Student Receive Undergraduate Research Grant for Brain Research Study

Picture of Aileen Bailey

Aileen Bailey – Professor of Psychology

Aileen Bailey, Professor of Psychology and recipient of the college’s Aldom-Plansoen Distinguished Professorship, and Zoey Forrester-Fronstin ’17 were selected as recipients of a Psi Chi 2016-2017 Spring Undergraduate Research Grant for Forrester-Fronstin’s project, “The influence of Orexin Antagonist, SB-334867, on Cognition.” Bailey described the project as an extension of research previously done in her lab and published as “Orexin receptor activity in the basal forebrain alters performance on an olfactory discrimination task” in Brain Research, 1594, 215-222 (Piantadosi, P.T., Holmes, A., Roberts, B.M., & Bailey, A.M., 2015).

Bailey said Forrester-Fronstin is looking at the connection between the neuropeptide orexin and its modulation of cognitive flexibility.  Her research is loosely tied to research on Alzheimer’s disease as it focuses on one area of the brain that deteriorates in the disease. “Understanding how this area of the brain works to control cognitive ability may lead to a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease,” Bailey said.

vCalc at SMCM

A picture of the professors with CEO, Kurt Heckman

Left to right: Josh Grossman, Dave Reumont, Richard Platt, Shizuka Nishikawa, Emek Köse, President Jordan, Kurt Heckman, and Randolph Larsen

 

St. Mary’s College of Maryland has been awarded a $97,361 grant, jointly funded by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program and vCalc LLC. Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) promotes the development and commercialization of products and processes through industry/university research partnerships. MIPS provides matching funds to help Maryland companies pay for the university research. Projects are initiated by the companies to meet their own research and development goals.

 

The St. Mary’s research team developed formulas and data for vCalc.com

Five professors and seven students developed equations in math, chemistry, psychology, physics, and economics during the summer of 2016. vCalc has hundreds of calculators and thousands of equations created by engineers,  professors, students from around the world, and people like you.  vCalc is a fast-growing calculator, equation and dataset library that helps you freely create, effectively collaborate and quickly calculate. Topics range from complex scientific equations to practical everyday equations.

The vCalc Team

The vCalc Team

Equations

 

The Team

Professors

Students

  • Caleb Svobodny
  • Austin Schlegel
  • Daria Vaseneva
  • Emma Skekel
  • Tyler Jones
  • Caroline Robertson
  • Savannah Bergen
  • Chris Lynch

 

 

 

 

 

 

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