biology newsletter fall 2009
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Many kinds of chili made by
the faculty and staff will be
available for alumni and their
families to enjoy. We will have
drinks, chips, and other food
available along with all eating
utensils.
Stop by and say hi!
As announced in the latest
Loras College 2009 Homecoming
flyer, the Biology and Chemistry
Programs will be holding their
annual Homecoming Chili Feed
on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 11 am
to 1 pm before the football game
on the lawn at the south end of
the Science Building.
V O L U M E 8 — S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
L O R A S C O L L E G E
B I O L O G Y N E W S L E T T E R
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
H O M E C O M I N G
C H I L I F E E D 1
N E W B I O L O G Y
F A C U L T Y 2
U P D A T E O N
R E T U R N I N G
F A C U L T Y
3
C O S T A R I C A
J - T E R M C L A S S 4
C A M P U S
U P D A T E S 5
H E A L T H
S C I E N C E
U P D A T E
6
E . T . C A W L E Y
R E S E A R C H
A W A R D
7
C O N T A C T
I N F O R M A T I O N
Kate Cooper, 563-588-7956
kate.cooper@loras.edu
Tom Davis, 563-588-7767
thomas.davis@loras.edu
Fred Schnee, 563-588-7247
fred.schnee@loras.edu
Dave Shealer, 563-588-7678
david.shealer@loras.edu
Aditi Sinha, 563-588-7231
aditi.sinha@loras.edu
W e W e l c o m e P a t t i B u r g m e i e r , M S E D
New to the Loras staff in August 2008, Patti serves as full-time Health
Science Coordinator for all science majors interested in pre-professional
programs. These programs include: Chiropractic, Dentistry, Medicine,
Nuclear Medicine, Nursing, Optometry, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy,
Physician Assistant, Podiatry, and Veterinary Medicine.
Patti advises prospective students interested in the
Health Sciences, meets regularly with the Health
Science Club, arranges guest speakers for campus
visits, and assists current science majors interested in
obtaining internships.
H o m e c o m i n g C h i l i F e e d 2 0 0 9
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
Page 2 L O R A S C O L L E G E
T h e B i o l o g y P r o g r a m i s p r o u d t o w e l c o m e t w o n e w f a c u l t y m e m b e r s t o c a m p u s
Dr. Kate Cooper started teaching here in August 2008. She replaced Dr. Eagleson who retired in
May 2008. Dr. Cooper is a Luther College graduate and received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular
Biology from University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2008. She is teaching Cell Biology, helping teach
Principles of Biology I with Dr. Schnee, teaching a general education course titled The Biology of
Women and will be offering a course in Immunology in the near future. Her research uses zebra fish
to study cell movement during development but also in response to immune system challenges.
She is a microscopy expert and has written several grants to get confocal and fluorescent
microscopes in her lab. She has several undergrads doing several research projects currently.
Dr. Cooper recently became a mom for the second time with the birth of a daughter, Lise in April,
2009. Kate is married to Will Hoyer and their first daughter, Claire, is almost three years old.
Dr. Aditi Sinha returned to Loras in 2007 as our Plant Biologist. She was here for a year in 2001.
She received her Ph. D in Environmental Biology from the University of Massachussetts-Boston.
Dr. Sinha teaches Plant Biology, Issues in Environmental Biology, helps teach Principles of Biology II
with Dr. Shealer, and will offer a new course on the Biology of Invasive Species this spring 2010.
Dr. Sinha recently became a mom for the first time in January, 2009 with the birth of a son,
Sitanshu. She is married to Dr. Steve Rock, a sports medicine physician at Medical Associates in
Dubuque. Dr. Sinha’s research focuses on plant invasive species and their effects on native plants.
She is trained in use of GPS and GIS systems and has written some grants to obtain hardware and
software to train our students in the use of these useful technologies.
Left: Kate Cooper, Ph.D.
Right: Aditi Sinha, Ph.D.
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
Page 3 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
Dr. Tom Davis started off his 21st year at Loras as the new Division Chair of
Molecular and Life Sciences (Biology and Chemistry!). He takes over for
Dr. Speckhard who did a great job as division chair for 4 years. Yep, he still
teaches Vertebrate Physiology and Human Anatomy with cadavers. But he was
able to take 15 students to Costa Rica in January 2009 for a J term course! See
more about that on page 4. He received a McElroy grant to continue his research on
effects of soil water on turtle egg development. Two students worked with him during
the spring and summer of 2008. See more details on page 7. He is also the Executive
Secretary for the Association of College and University Biology Educators, a national group
of 290 college biology teachers that have an annual meeting and publish Bioscene, the
Journal of College Biology Teaching. He now has two kids in college, one at Iowa State and one at St. Ambrose, and
the last one is a junior at Wahlert High School. His latest adventure is leading summer back packing trips with llamas
into the mountains of western Wyoming.
Dr. Fred Schnee is as energetic as ever! He is still teaching Genetics and
playing with fruit flies better than many people dream of! He also teaches a
great Microbiology course, a very good Human Genetics course and is
offering a new general education course this spring titled Microbes! He has
been doing great work as our division Senator in the Faculty Senate and has
also evolved into the assessment master of the group. His wife,
Andrea Bixler, is in the Biology Department at Clarke College in Dubuque.
Dr. Dave Shealer keeps chasing black terns! He wrapped up 10 years of population
biology, banding and blood and feather DNA analysis of black terns at Horicon
Marsh in east central Wisconsin in 2008. He was hired by the Wisconsin DNR to do
a state-wide population survey of Black Terns throughout Wisconsin in summer
2009. He has had many students work for him slogging around in chest waders in
the muddy marshes of Wisconsin. But every one of them seems to have enjoyed
themselves and learned a lot, too. Dave is recent past president of the
Waterbird Society, an international group of waterbird researchers. He has attended
meetings and presented his research in Brazil, South Texas, and Barcelona, Spain. Dave teaches Principles of
Biology II, Experimental Design, Conservation Biology, Vertebrate Zoology and Animal Behavior. His 4 kids, who are
now all in school (SIGH!), keep him and his wife, Cathi Cleary, very busy! Cathi joined us as a part time faculty
member teaching Cell Biology last spring when Dr. Cooper was out on maternity leave.
U p d a t e o n o t h e r “ o l d e r ” y e t s t i l l g o o d l o o k i n g B i o l o g y f a c u l t y :
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
Page 4 L O R A S C O L L E G E
S e c o n d y e a r o f J - t e r m h a s c o m e a n d g o n e !
Starting in 2008, students who started at Loras after 2007 are required to take two January term
(J-term) courses to graduate. Courses in J-term are 3 weeks long and are supposed to have some
kind of an off campus, “experiential”, hands-on learning component, more than a regular “classroom”
course. A great variety of courses have been taught across the campus like Theory of Board Games,
Caveman Chemistry and Sustainable Living. Many travel courses have taken Loras students to China,
Greece, New Zealand and the concentration camps in Germany. Some students see it as a great
opportunity to travel, get credit and not have to worry about being gone a whole |semester or
summer. Others aren’t quite as happy because the cost of the travel courses can be a bit prohibitive.
But the program pushes on. Dr Davis and Dr. Shealer are offering a travel course titled Bird
Conservation in South Texas in 2009.
Dr. Davis took 15 Loras students on an
adventure to Costa Rica during J-term 2009.
The course was titled Environmental Issues in
Costa Rica. The course examined deforestation,
coffee and banana production, erosion, cattle
farming, endangered and invasive plant and
animal species in class for several days and then
visited Costa Rica where students interviewed
native Costa Ricans about their impressions and perspectives on these issues. The group visited a
tropical dry forest at Palo Verde National Park where scorpions, fire ants, acacia ants, howler
monkeys and white faced monkeys were abundant. They saw many brilliantly colored birds like
motmots and toucans. They visited the internationally known biological reserves at the Monte Verde
Cloud Forest and La Selva Tropical Rain Forest. They toured two very different coffee plantations and
quizzed the guides about the process of coffee
production and its effects on the local environment.
The group spent the last few days on the Caribbean
coast observing tide
pools, more tropical
birds, army ants and
doing a 12 platform
zip line through the
jungle! Dr. Davis hopes
to bring more students
to Costa Rica in 2012.
D r . D a v i s t a k e s L o r a s s t u d e n t s t o s e e t h e R a i n f o r e s t i n C o s t a R i c a !
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
Page 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
C a m p u s U p d a t e s
Huge Entering Class Fall 2009
August 31 was the day the largest first year class in Loras history started classes! Four
hundred twenty (420) new students swarmed the campus and all found a comfortable place to
live! Also on that day the Biology Program enrolled the largest class ever in Bio. 115,
Introductory Biology – 120! We have 6 lab sections and are discussing how the heck we are
going to handle that many next semester! But it is a good problem to have and it tells us that
there is interest in Biology out there and that many have heard about the success of our
graduates like you!
Unseen by many on campus, the Science Hall Prairie is now over 12 years
old and is doing quite well. The diversity slowly continues to increase and
includes Boneset, rattlesnake
master, purple coneflowers,
compass plant, cup plant, white
tube beard tongue, big bluestem,
Indian grass, wild white indigo,
showy and tall goldenrod,
common milkweed, several
sunflower species, common
evening primrose, blazing star,
blue lobelia and blue vervain.
It has not been burned for about
4 years. The next burn will
occur in March 2010 with help
from people from the Mines of Spain. Take a walk out to the north end of campus to see the
prairie when you are here.
Next to the Science Hall Prairie is a new Observatory Building supervised and used by
Dr. McLaughlin in his Astronomy classes and undergraduate projects. The building has a
larger, eastern, “cold” section that has 3 new large
telescopes mounted inside. The roof of this section
slowly moves away to reveal the night sky above. It
also has a smaller western “warm” room that has at
least 3 computers that are connected electronically
to the telescopes to allow the viewers to sit in
heated comfort and watch the night sky through the
telescope via their laptop screen! Though not
completely functional yet, some us are waiting
anxiously to get a close up view of Saturn’s rings or
the Horsehead nebula in Orion’s belt. Maybe it will
be open for visitor use on Homecoming evenings!
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
Page 6 L O R A S C O L L E G E
H e a l t h S c i e n c e C l u b c o n t i n u e s t o p r o s p e r ; H e a l t h S c i e n c e a c c e p t a n c e s c o n t i n u e t o b e s t r o n g
The Health Science Club meets once or sometimes twice each month to listen to health
professionals or former students who are in school or representatives from various health science
schools talk about the opportunities for our students. Many times we have over 30 students in
attendance at meetings. If you are interested in coming to one of these meetings to answer
questions, spread information about your field or want to have Loras undergrads shadow you in
your workplace, please contact Dr. Davis or Patti Burgmeier. We would love to hear what you
have to say and need to put our students in the workplace so they know what they are getting
into. A summary of Health Science acceptances is shown below since 1999. We have had at
least 10 people go on to receive their Ph.D.s in various biology and biochemistry related
disciplines, too.
* Note: About 70 % of these people were Biology or Biology Research majors and all took at least
4 classes in Biology during their tenure here.
Dr. Mark Knabel a Loras grad who grew up right across the street from Loras and who now is
a Dermatologist practicing in Kohler, Wisconsin, has donated funds to sponsor two Loras
undergraduates on a medical mission trip to Cotija, Mexico each May. Eight Loras students
have participated in this program and have gained valuable hands-on experience in helping
the local needy people of this Mexican town. Many have gone on to medical school or other
health science training programs. Thank you so much, Dr. Knabel, for your generosity and
patience with our students.
Health Science Acceptances 1999—present *
Medical 45 Dental 22
Optometry 10 Podiatry 7
Pharmacy 10 Physical Therapy 23
Physicians Assistant 18 Nursing Accelerated Degree 7
Nuclear Medicine Technology 8 Chiropractic 12
Veterinary Medicine 9 Entering Graduate School
for MS or Ph.D.
16
D r . M a r k K n a b e l s p o n s o r s L o r a s u n d e r g r a d s w i t h M e d i c a l M i s s i o n t r i p t o M e x i c o
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
A w a r d s a n d S c h o l a r s h i p s Page 7 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
R e c i p i e n t s o f t h e E . T . C a w l e y A w a r d f o r E x c e l l e n c e i n U n d e r g r a d u a t e R e s e a r c h f o r 2 0 0 9
Maria Garcia and David Arens split the award this year. Biology faculty agreed that they both did very
good research projects that showed determination, originality and self motivation. Maria’s research
was titled “Examination of Extra Pair Paternity in Black Terns at Two Colony Sites in SE Wisconsin.”
She used PCR and DNA fingerprinting techniques, the new DNA sequencer and blood samples from
Black Terns to compare DNA loci of parents and offspring to check occurrence of single or extra
mate pairing. Maria worked with Dr. Shealer. Dave’s project was titled “Atrazine Detection in
Snapping Turtle Eggs”. Dave showed that atrazine injected into moist soil does enter the eggs of
snapping turtles during incubation in the lab. Dave worked with Dr. Davis and Dr. Cooper on his
project.
R e t i r e d B i o l o g y F a c u l t y r e m a i n a c t i v e
Dr. Ed Cawley recently accepted an offer to help us out in Bio. 116 due to a maternity leave last spring
2009. He courageously taught some lectures and several lab sections. Students and faculty appreciated
his time and expertise in the classroom again. Despite many of us pecking away at our PCs, Ed remains a
Mac person through and through. Several times he was heard cussing at the IBM Thinkpad about why it
decided to do THAT or why can’t you let me do THIS!! No blood was spilled nor were any computer
monitors dented at the end of the semester, as far as we can tell.
Dr. Joe Kapler pops in and out of the Science Building every now and then. He spends much of his time
enjoying the peace and quiet and long list of projects at his “woods” acreage in Jackson County south of
Dubuque. Congratulations to Joe and his wife Helen as they had a large family celebration for their 50th
wedding anniversary in August 2009.
Dr. John Bamrick is now officially registered as a bionic man! He now has two metal knees, two hips and
two shoulders! And he can still walk around and smile! He continues to keep one eye on the
activities at Loras and has enjoyed several trips to Texas and Arizona with his longtime sweetie, Eunice!
T h a n k y o u t o o u r g e n e r o u s d o n o r s !
Thank you to all the alumni who have donated some money to Loras or to the Biology Program
specifically. We look forward to using your money to improve our college experience for our students.
Many of them have been quite successful. Take a minute to go to our Alumni News section of our
webpage and see what many of them have been up to. We get constant feedback each year from
our graduated students about how they have been well prepared, many times better prepared than
other students in their classes from similar sized and larger schools.
Always stop in and say hi if you are in Dubuque!
Loras College Biology Newsletter | Vol 8 - September 2009
Loras College +Catholic | Liberal Arts | Dubuque, Iowa | Biology Newsletter | 563.588.7100 | www.loras.edu/academcis
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