Fred Lesher, a 1958 alumnus and noted Wisconsin birder and naturalist, is helping to liven up the Carthage campus. Mr. Lesher has made a donation to help put up purple martin nest boxes across campus. Martins are swallows that feed on insects over water. Their social nesting houses are "condos" with numerous chambers for individual nests. These adept flying birds will be a welcome addition to the campus as they feed on mosquitoes and other pests. We hope to install houses in the spring of 2007, probably near the Pike River and down on the beach.
Please consider dropping us a note with an update on your career or life since leaving Carthage. We will include your note in a future edition of this newsletter. Send those notes to nsalumni@carthage.edu or post them directly to the CNS Alumni Blog. Thanks!
Our students need your help!
If you have career advice to give, an interest in mentoring students, or networking connections that might benefit a current Carthage science major, please help out by posting an entry on the CNS alumni blog. We will match volunteer alumni with current students.
Students gave rave reviews of the experience:
“I am very passionate about the research that I am doing and loved to talk about it with different people who were interested. The weekend also helped me get a glimpse of what I might be doing in the future….panel discussions were designed to talk about what we, as students, could do in the future…I was able to see different possibilities that graduate school has to offer, and what I need to do to get in if I decide to go.” – Charlsie Rueden ‘07
“the poster presentations were by far the most interesting because the students were able to discuss their exciting new research with their peers in a comfortable and friendly environment. I will never forget this amazing experience!” – Megan Peterson ‘07
“The most beneficial portion of the weekend involved all of the feedback that I got for my current research as well as suggestions on other topics related to my research that I may want to explore further…the entire weekend’s experience allowed me to become more familiar with some of the options that are available to me after graduation, along with some tips for applying to grad school. I would recommend that, if at all possible, everyone should try and attempt a research project that they can present at the Pew Symposium just for the overall experience and beneficial knowledge that one can gain at the conference.”– Jacob Burg ‘07
Traffic Control on the 2006 Galapagos Island J-term trip.
Professors Zorn (Geography, Environmental Science) and Roberg (Political Science, Environmental Science) traveled with 14 students to the Galápagos where they explored the geography, politics, and biology of the region.
The Galápagos Islands comprise a fragile ecosystem that is subject to increasing environmental stresses, especially from tourists. This J-Term trip to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador explored the political, economic, and ecological importance of the Galápagos Islands for the people of Ecuador and the world.
The Galápagos Islands provide a natural experimental area to monitor the effects of global warming. From a climatic perspective, the Galápagos are located in the heart of the region of El Niño, which is well-known to induce abnormal climate anomalies in many regions of the world. El Niño brings an abnormal abundance of warm ocean water to the region, disrupting the entire marine ecosystem of the eastern Pacific Ocean. This in turn has serious economic consequences for Ecuador (and much of coastal South America). Geologically, the Galápagos are volcanically and tectonically active as they are located along the boundary of lithospheric plates.
As one of the last remaining pristine areas of the world, the Galápagos Islands demonstrate the difficulties of balancing nature (endemic species), economics (a vast fishing industry), and the rights of tourists to explore the islands that Charles Darwin made famous by his journey on the HMS Beagle.
- Did you know that in the eleven years since the first was discovered in 1995, over 200 extrasolar planets have been discovered? Learn more about discovery techniques at the course site for the Carthage physics course, PlanetQuest.
- The Invisibility Cloak is closer to becoming a reality. Researchers at Duke have been able to design and build "meta-materials" that are essentially invisible to microwave radiation. Read more.
- The recent poisoning of ex-KGB colonel, Alexander Litvineko appears to have been through ingestion of the radioisotope Polonium 210. 210-Po is the same isotope found in cigarrettes. That tobbacco is radioactive is not commonly known but can be easily demonstrated by running a geiger counter over an opened cigarrette. The New York Times recently ran an Op-Ed piece on this issue.
Raja Banerjee (08) and Amber Vogelman (08), biology majors at Carthage, spent the summer working with Prof. Pat Pfaffle on a research project that involved the cloning and expression of a thermophilic cellulase. Their results showed that this cellulase may be useful in ethanol production for fuel.
Dr. Pfaffle's laboratory has previously demonstrated that recombinant thermophilic proteins expressed in normal bacteria can be very simply and efficiently purified by heat denaturation of native proteins. The enzyme that Raja and Amber cloned and expressed demonstrates very promising activity, potentially enhancing the conversion of biomass into ethanol. Such activity would be a major boon for the production of renewable fuel for transportation and may decrease our dependency on imported petroleum.
Sara Jensen (08) and Prof. Erlan Wheeler spent the summer studying the mathematics of the game Set. The Set project involved mathematical questions concerning the card game Set. The cards of the game have symbols of various colors, shapes, and shading, and the object is to
identify special combinations of three cards, called sets. Mathematically, Jensen and Wheeler studied questions such as "what is the maximum number of cards that might not have any set?"
and "for what values of n and k is it possible to have k sets among n cards?"
Jensen's work was recognized by Pi Mu Epsilon, the U.S. honorary mathematics society as one of the best student papers at the recent Mathematical Association of America MathFest held in Knoxville, Tennessee, August, 2006.
The complete list of research projects carried out in the SURE program this year is below.
- "Conservation of Herpetofauna in Nature Preserves vs. Unprotected Areas" Jennifer Gaul, and Prof. Scott Hegrenes
- "Assessing Potential Salmon Spawning Habitats in Lake Michigan Feeder Streams" Justine Rehak and Prof. Scott Hegrenes.
- "Exploring the Interactions between Chiral Molecules and Molecular Micelles with NMR Spectroscopy," Stephanie
Kingsbury and Prof. Kevin Morris
- "Using NMR Spectroscopy to Probe the Motional Dynamics of Chiral Molecules Bound to Molecular Micelles," Keith
Pedersen and Prof. Kevin Morris
- "Buckthorn Management Options and Effects on Plant Diversity", Christine Karlovitz and Prof. Tracy Gartner.
- "Probing the Interactions between Enkephalin Peptides and Beta-Cylcodextrin with NMR Spectroscopy," Amy Wingert and Prof. Kevin Morris
- "Trio Spaces and the Game of Set," Sara Jensen and Prof. Erlan Wheeler
- "Graph Representations of Zero Divisors of Commutative Rings," Sami Bejlovec and Prof. Gaspar Porta
- "Cheaper Ethanol Production through Molecular Cloning,"Anit Banerjee, Amber Vogelman, and Prof. Pat Pfaffle
- "Biofilm Detection," Colleen Cassidy and Prof. Neil Sleszynski
- "Production of a Polarized Gas Target via Optical Pumping," Christopher Jerina and Prof. Brian Schwartz
Dates: July 19, 2007 to August 1, 2007
Trip Cost: $3,000 (This cost does not include airfare to and from Quito, Ecuador)
Joy Nystrom Mast (Geography and 
Environmental Science) has been awarded a National Science Foundation research grant in the amount of $132,757. The grant, entitled "Biogeographical Impacts of Recent Bark Beetle Epidemics on Cavity-Nesting Birds in Arizona", will include Carthage students in field work in Arizona and lab tree-ring research at Carthage from 2006 until 2009.
Jean Quashnock is spending his Fall 2006 sabbatical at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Quashnock is analyzing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Sheryl Konrad joined the Division last year as Lab Manager for the Biology and Chemistry Departments. Sheryl oversees lab assistants and is responsible for the oversight of the stockrooms as well as lab safety training. Her presence has truly changed the way we operate and is responsible for happier faculty faces. Prof. Elaine Radwanski echoes a common theme "Because of Sheryl, I finally have the time to think about my research and course preparation in meaningful ways."
Neuroscience
Abbott laboratories has made a $5000 donation to the Carthage neuroscience program for use in funding students on summer research. The donation was specified by Peter Curzon, director of the Abbott research group in which Katie Salte (06) works. Dr. Curzon collaborates with Carthage Neuroscientist, Dan Miller.
Physics
Professor of Physics and Entrepreneurial Studies,
Doug Arion has received several recent grants, including a $5000 award from the Kern Entrepreneur Education Network for developing and improving the entrepreneurship curriculum in the ScienceWorks program. He also received a $3000 "Small Research Grant" from the American Astronomical Society for the upgrade of our CCD camera for astrophysics research. Pending is an application to the National Science
Foundation's Partnerships for Innovation Program for $600,000 for expanding the innovative technology transfer model that has been created by Carthage and the Center for
Advanced Technology and Innovation in Racine to a national model for entrepreneurship education and economic development. Carthage is partnered with CATI, six other colleges and universities, and the National Collegiate
Innovators and Inventors Alliance in this effort.
Carthage has joined the Wisconsin Space Grant 
Consortium, a NASA funded agency that awards grants and other opportunities to students and faculty at member institutions across the state. Over the past several years, Carthage students have been increasingly involved in space sciences research. Membership in the WSGC should bring additional opportunity for research in Earth and Space Sciences.
During J-Term 2007, 10 physics majors will be doing astrophysics research using the 61" Kuiper Telescope at Steward Observatory in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.
Ecology and Environmental Science
Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science, Scott Hegrenes, is spearheading an effort to establish an "Ecological Laboratory - A Beach Succession Study Plot" on the beach just below the Oaks Dormitory at the south end of campus.
"My ecology class has cleared the area of stones, built a wall identifying the plot, and we will be trying to get more vegetation to establish over the next several years."
Dr. Hegrenes also reports that, starting in 2007, Carthage will be cooperatively managing a field site known as Benedict Prairie in Kenosha county. The team will be restoring the area to its original prairie conditions by removing invasive trees and shrubs. The team will also form volunteer fire crews to perform managed burns on the plot. Alumni volunteers or interested parties can contact Dr. Scott Hegrenes or Dr. Tracy Gartner.
Little Clint Fact Sheet
by Prof. Thomas Carr
What is little Clint and what is its significance?
Little Clint is the smallest partial skeleton of a tyrannosaur that includes bones from both the skull and postcranial skeleton.
The four bones we collected were found lying together, are from the same type of dinosaur, and have a comparable small size, which indicates that they are from the same individual.
It is scientifically important because it is only one of three partial skeletons of a tyrannosaur less than five meters in length from the Hell Creek Formation – the majority of skeletons are of subadult and adult tyrannosaurs.
Little Clint gives us a view into the earliest growth stages of tyrannosaurs, which are poorly known.
Is little Clint a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex?
Although little Clint is unquestionably a small tyrannosaur, it is so young that it does not display any of the diagnostic characters that would allow it to be identified as a specific tyrannosaur species. Closer study – and more bones - may change this assessment. However, T. rex is the only tyrannosaur present in the Hell Creek Formation and so it is most parsimonious to hypothesize little Clint is a juvenile T. rex.
What is the Hell Creek Formation?
The Hell Creek Formation was the last rock unit to be deposited in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota before the mass extinction that wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs. The Hell Creek Formation lasted from 66.9 – 65.51 million years ago.
What do we have of little Clint?
Little Clint was discovered on the second last day of the first Carthage College-Dinosaur Discovery Museum expedition to the Hell Creek Formation, and it was identified as a tyrannosaur, and collected, on the last day of the expedition.
So far, we have collected four bones: the left frontal, a fragment of the forelimb, the right tibia, and a pedal phalanx (toe bone).
Is there more of little Clint in the cliff?
Next year we plan to quarry the immediate area of the site to find more bones of the specimen.
Who discovered little Clint?
Ms. Alison Wojahn (Carthage College) and Mr. Chris De Santis (Dinosaur Discovery Museum) discovered fragments of little Clint weathering out of a cliff face on Tuesday July 25, 2006.
Where was little Clint discovered?
Little Clint was discovered in southeastern Montana in exposures of the Hell Creek Formation on lands regulated by the Bureau of Land Management.
Who identified little Clint?
Dr. Thomas Carr identified little Clint as a tyrannosaur when the pedal phalanx was discovered. Shortly after that, the frontal bone was uncovered, which was also diagnostic of tyrannosaurs.
Where will little Clint be stored?
Little Clint is curated into the collections of the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in downtown Kenosha.
Who is little Clint named for?
Little Clint is nicknamed after Mr. Clint Boyd, a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University, who was instrumental in providing the opportunity for Dr. Carr and his crew to conduct fieldwork in southeastern Montana.
