By: Johnica Morrow
The station's second summer session has been full of expression and excitement! We are almost half-way through this session and we have seen the bright eyes of budding scientists, the excitement of discovery, and the outpouring of creativity all at once.
Young Nebraska Scientists Enjoy Biology at CPBS
Last week a charter bus arrived at the station full of high school students anxious to start a week-long exploration into the biological world. These students came from a variety of schools throughout Nebraska to listen, learn, and immerse themselves in the station's culture. This is the third year that CPBS has hosted the Young Nebraska Scientists. The program includes a variety of activities led by biologists from a diversity of research realms. The students learned how to track, trap, dissect, and identify organisms including turtles, insects, and the parasites of fish and small mammals. The students were able to stay on campus to get the full cedar point experience in the same way that UNL students do while taking our courses.
Zac Warren Presents Bat Acoustics Research for Seminar Series
Wednesday the CPBS summer seminar series continued with a talk given by new School of Natural Resources graduate student, Zac Warren. Zac spoke to a crowd of seasoned biologists, interns, and art students about the research he is conducting this field season. His work involved recording the sounds produced by a variety of bats across the state of Nebraska to gather range data on these winged mammals. His seminar provoked a discussion of bat ecology that involved artists and scientists alike and left the audience with new understandings for how researchers study these
amazing animals.
Comparative Physiology Students on the Move for Box Turtles
Dr. Gwen Bachman's Comparative Physiology class has been busy working with box turtles to understand the way that these poikilotherms function. The year-old turtle enclosure nestled atop the hill to the north of Goodall Lodge has seen lots of traffic from chelonian and mammal feet over the last week and a half. Dr. Bachman's graduate students, Abby Neyer and Ben Reed, have offered additional help and guidance for the novice turtle researchers as they study what makes these tetrapods tick.
Eco-Printing Into Bookmaking Students Inspired by Nature
Students taking Dr. Karen Kunc's Eco-printing into Bookmaking course have also been busy this session. Bursts of creativity are scattered throughout the library and conference room as students press, paint, and transfer their work onto pages destined for hand-stitched books. The students have drawn inspiration from plants, protists, fish, snakes, and a variety of other things that the landscape has to offer. Using both traditional and experimental techniques for working with organic material, the class has produced a number of beautiful prints that have been integrated into their projects.
Experimenting in the Kitchen: Vegan-Friendly Meringues
This morning our kitchen staff also got into the experimental spirit. After preparing the lunch entree, which contained chick peas, they decided to try making meringues out of the left over juice from the beans. "Very skeptically, we placed chick pea juice in the mixer, turned it on, and walked away," said kitchen manager, Airrica Roddy. "When we came back, we were in utter disbelief because of how beautifully it had whipped up." A little sugar, vanilla, and almond extract later, one of this summer's best-loved desserts was born. We have had an unusually high number of vegetarian students this session as well as a vegan student. Making a vegan-friendly version of the classic meringue was certainly a first in station history and this method also utilizes what would otherwise be tossed out after extracting chick peas from their container.
Upcoming Events for Second Session
The last week of this session (June 22nd-26th), CPBS will host a workshop for educators called the Earth Science Institute.
The station will also be hosting a 4-H Insect Camp over the last weekend of this session.
Here's some highlights from the past week and a half:
Young Nebraska Scientists Enjoy Biology at CPBS
Last week a charter bus arrived at the station full of high school students anxious to start a week-long exploration into the biological world. These students came from a variety of schools throughout Nebraska to listen, learn, and immerse themselves in the station's culture. This is the third year that CPBS has hosted the Young Nebraska Scientists. The program includes a variety of activities led by biologists from a diversity of research realms. The students learned how to track, trap, dissect, and identify organisms including turtles, insects, and the parasites of fish and small mammals. The students were able to stay on campus to get the full cedar point experience in the same way that UNL students do while taking our courses.
Wednesday the CPBS summer seminar series continued with a talk given by new School of Natural Resources graduate student, Zac Warren. Zac spoke to a crowd of seasoned biologists, interns, and art students about the research he is conducting this field season. His work involved recording the sounds produced by a variety of bats across the state of Nebraska to gather range data on these winged mammals. His seminar provoked a discussion of bat ecology that involved artists and scientists alike and left the audience with new understandings for how researchers study these
amazing animals.
Comparative Physiology Students on the Move for Box Turtles
Dr. Gwen Bachman's Comparative Physiology class has been busy working with box turtles to understand the way that these poikilotherms function. The year-old turtle enclosure nestled atop the hill to the north of Goodall Lodge has seen lots of traffic from chelonian and mammal feet over the last week and a half. Dr. Bachman's graduate students, Abby Neyer and Ben Reed, have offered additional help and guidance for the novice turtle researchers as they study what makes these tetrapods tick.Eco-Printing Into Bookmaking Students Inspired by Nature
Students taking Dr. Karen Kunc's Eco-printing into Bookmaking course have also been busy this session. Bursts of creativity are scattered throughout the library and conference room as students press, paint, and transfer their work onto pages destined for hand-stitched books. The students have drawn inspiration from plants, protists, fish, snakes, and a variety of other things that the landscape has to offer. Using both traditional and experimental techniques for working with organic material, the class has produced a number of beautiful prints that have been integrated into their projects.
This morning our kitchen staff also got into the experimental spirit. After preparing the lunch entree, which contained chick peas, they decided to try making meringues out of the left over juice from the beans. "Very skeptically, we placed chick pea juice in the mixer, turned it on, and walked away," said kitchen manager, Airrica Roddy. "When we came back, we were in utter disbelief because of how beautifully it had whipped up." A little sugar, vanilla, and almond extract later, one of this summer's best-loved desserts was born. We have had an unusually high number of vegetarian students this session as well as a vegan student. Making a vegan-friendly version of the classic meringue was certainly a first in station history and this method also utilizes what would otherwise be tossed out after extracting chick peas from their container.
Upcoming Events for Second Session
The last week of this session (June 22nd-26th), CPBS will host a workshop for educators called the Earth Science Institute.
The station will also be hosting a 4-H Insect Camp over the last weekend of this session.
More about current events at CPBS to come in future posts!
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