Student Opportunities

Internships

Recent internships for Biology students include:

• Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (water quality monitoring, fish surveys)
• University of Cincinnati, School of Medicine (laboratory research work)
• Colgate-Palmolive in Cambridge, OH (quality control)
• Busch Gardens Adventure Camps in Tampa, FL.
• Internship in the Caribbean (marine ecology)
• Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, LA (animal husbandry)
• Baylor College of Medicine (lab research)
• Pisgah National Forest in Asheville, NC (nature center and trail work, and bird work)
• National Capital Region National Parks (assisting with bat inventories)

Research

Undergraduate research is a major component of the science program at Muskingum. Biology majors have recently participated in research at:

• Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee
• U.S. Army Physical Therapy Training Program in Hawaii
• Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
• Jackson Memorial Laboratory in Maine
• Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts
• National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C.
• Mayo Clinic in Minnesota

Honoraries

Qualified Muskingum College Biology students may join Beta Beta Beta (Tri-Beta, Upsilon Nu chapter), an international organization dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research. Since its founding in 1922, more than 175,000 people have been accepted into lifetime membership, and more than 430 chapters have been established throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

Employment

The Biology department typically employs 10-12 students each academic year: 2-3 work in the greenhouse maintaining plants; 2-4 in the stockroom, helping prep labs, etc.; 2-3 in the collection room, assisting in the inventory of vertebrate and invertebrate collections; and 1-2 in the ecology lab and "ratroom", maintaining the aquaria and taking care of the rats for Dr. Bergstrom's neuroscience research

Professional Activities

Each year, members of the Biology faculty attend the annual Ohio Academy of Sciences meeting. They normally take 10-15 students along, many of whom present their research in the form of posters and/or oral presentations. Occasionally, students also accompany faculty to national meetings. Dr. Bergstrom, for instance, has taken students to national neuroscience meetings and Dr. Ingold has taken students to national ornithological meetings.

Current Students

The following Muskignum students participated in the 2006 Summer Fellows program, performing research in collaboration with various faculty members:

Ashley Campbell ('08) interned at the Audubon Center for Research on Endangered Species in New Orleans, with guidance and support from Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Jim Dooley.

Adam Cirone ('07) worked in collaboration with Professor of Biology Dr. Danny Ingold on the impact of vegetation structure and plant species compositions on grassland bird abundance on a reclaimed strip-mine in southeastern Ohio (see photo right).

Jessica Turner ('09) worked in collaboration with Associate Professor of Biology Dr. James Dooley on continued investigation aimed at further elucidating the nature and magnitude of West Nile disease prevalence among kestrels living at the Wilds.

Bonnie Whitt ('08) collaborated with Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Amy Santas on a dystroglycan research project.