Students at ABAC can participate in undergraduate research with their professors to get experience before deciding to pursue graduate school.
Biology students Katie Pattillo and Alex Ramirez Silva are working with Dr. Christopher Beals on research about the plant Alternanthera philoxeroides, also known as alligator weed.
“I picked some out of Lake Baldwin many years ago,” said Beals. “I did some research and found out it’s a very invasive plant. It can only be bio-controlled using beetles… Herbicides don’t work because it’s a hyperaccumulator—it can take up more metals and toxins than the average plant.”
While it is an invasive plant, it is theorized that it can be used to remediate contaminated water and soils because it picks up heavy metals from the surrounding environment.
This project has been ongoing for about nine years and has come to include a lot of subprojects involving this plant.
“When the alligator weed absorbs copper, it becomes distasteful to the beetles [used as biocontrol]. We tested that in the lab… There are also studies that say that alligator weed produces chemicals itself to promote its own survival which impacts algal species. We tried to test to see if that was true, but didn’t find anything [when we did],” said Beals.
One of the most important goals of this is to provide students with experience in lab work and data collection and to eventually include students’ names on formal research papers. Students working with Beals also get the opportunity to present their research at the Association of Southern Biologists meeting and the ABAC STEPS Symposium.
Some students may also receive a stipend to support their involvement in scientific activities through organizations like the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation.
“I enjoy getting lab experience; I’ve been wanting to get experience since my sophomore year to see if this is something I’d want to do after undergrad,” said Ramirez Silva.
“I started thinking about doing research my sophomore year, but my schedule was so packed. I was able to get involved once my schedule cleared up. I thought this seemed to be the most interesting research opportunity available,” said Pattillo.
Normally Beals works with two to four students every semester on these projects. Through these experiments, the students have learned how to make concentrations of metals, create timelines for experiments, design experiments, and more.
“I think it’s fun. It gets meticulous sometimes doing the same [experiments] over and over, but we get meaningful results from them. There are environmental reasons for doing this, and it’s important,” said Beals.
There are opportunities for students to participate in undergraduate research in many areas of study at ABAC. Students who are interested can contact their professors to learn about ongoing projects and research experiences available to them.