IN THIS ISSUE:
• New Faculty: Jim Church
• Student Internship: Brittany Johnson
• Alumni Update: Arthur Kneeland and Matt Prissel
Keeping Applied Science Alumni Informed » Fall 2011
Dear Alums,
I hope this holiday season finds you and
your family enjoying the warmth and pleasure
that accompany getting together with family
and friends at this time of the year. We have
finally begun to see the fruits of our efforts
this semester. The university is at an all-time
high enrollment at just more than 9,300 students and 300 in Applied Science—who ever
thought the program would become so large
and be so successful? The answer to that
is we did—the faculty and staff that support
the Applied Science program.
Evidence of this success continues with current students in the program. Many
are engaged in various research endeavors on campus and off. This past summer
four students completed National Science Foundation-Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (NSF-REU) around the country. New clubs have sprung up, including the Stout Pre-Health Society and the Pharmacy Club.
The success also comes in the form of you the alumni. Just this semester we
have had seven alumni come back and discuss what they are currently doing,
from Anna Peterson ’09, who is just about to finish up Podiatry School at Rosalind
Franklin University, to Tanya Freseth ’08, who just finished her chiropractic program at Logan University in St. Louis. Jessica Vander Werff ’09, also presented
at seminar on her Masters thesis on Phytoplankton in Lake Superior. These have
been great for the undergraduates in Applied Science to see the many career
paths they could take. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to share your accomplishments and experiences next Fall!
It has indeed been an honor to be a part of your success—I hope it continues for
many years to come.
Please have a safe and happy holiday season.
B.S. in Applied Science Program
Inspiring Innovation. Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/programs/bsas
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New Faculty: Jim Church
My name is Jim
Church and I am
one of the newest
members of the
biology department at UW-Stout.
I recently received
my PhD in Ecology
and Evolutionary
Biology from Iowa State University
(ISU) where I studied the biogeography
and community ecology of salamanders in the genus Plethodon. Much of
this work utilized a combination of
mathematical modeling, working with
the collections at the Smithsonian’s
Natural History Museum, and field
work in the Southern Appalachian
Mountains. Prior to attending ISU, I
received my Master of Science (MS)
degree in zoology from North Dakota
State University. My research for my
MS focused on the effects of logging
on the aquatic invertebrate communities in temporary wetlands. Here, I
assessed the efficacy of leaving
‘buffer strips’ around the wetlands at
mitigating the effect of clear-cut timber harvest.
My research and teaching interests
are quite varied. I am interested in
just about every aspect of ecology
and conservation biology. Much of my
expertise lies within aquaticcommunity ecology, niche theory,
biogeography, and landscape ecology. I am excited about all of the
teaching opportunities here at UWStout. I look forward to working with
students both in- and outside of the
classroom, involving them in research, and encouraging them to
take advantage of opportunities to
be successful. In
my spare time I
enjoy cooking,
hiking, birdwatching, canoeing, and snowshoeing.
Student Internship: Brittany E. Johnson
My name is Brittany E.
Johnson and I am currently a Science Education student at the University of WisconsinStout. During the summer of 2011, I participated in St. Olaf College’s Environmental
Studies Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU),
funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF). While there, I completed a research project under two advisors, Dr. John Schade and
Dr. Jean Porterfield, over the course of 10 weeks. My research partner, a St. Olaf undergraduate, and I studied
the relationship between reed canary grass, an invasive,
dominant wetland plant, and methanogenesis, the production of methane by anaerobic (in the absence of oxygen) microorganisms. My role in the research was to determine different taxa of methanogens (methaneproducing microbes) and methanotrophs (methaneconsuming microbes) in soil samples taken along wetland
margins using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. My research partner then measured the rate of meth-
ane produced in six different sites: four areas containing a
high density of reed canary grass but varying in moisture
content, two areas containing patches of reed canary grass
but varying in moisture content, an area without reed canary
grass. We found that in areas containing a high density of
reed canary grass, methane rates were the highest, but very
few taxa of microbes were present. Therefore, reed canary
grass may be supplying labile carbon into the soil for the
methanogens.
In addition to my research project, I assisted other REU students with their projects. One day I was out catching turtles
in a nearby pond and clipping part of their tails for stable
isotope analysis. The next day I put on a wet suit to enter a
lake to find pug nose shiners using a large net. Another day I
put on waders and entered a nearby stream to tag native
brook trout.
This summer kept me very busy and gave me fun, exciting
experiences to share with others and incorporate into my
future classroom. I encourage all students to apply to an
REU as they are found all over the nation. REUs provide a
stipend to all students, credit for co-op requirements, networking and meeting other professors and people interested
in your field, experience that looks great on a resume, and
professional and scientific development. I don’t think a summer job could be any more exciting than an REU!
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Alumni Update: Arthur Kneeland
& Matt Prissel
A Conversation between Arthur Kneeland (‘06) and Matt
Prissel (’05)
Arthur: So Matt we have been tasked with writing about our
experiences teaching back at stout. I was wondering what
you’ve been doing this last couple of weeks?
Matt: I've actually been a fairly busy person in the Chemistry department this semester teaching College Chemistry 1
and Organic Chemistry 1, with the occasional smattering of
CHEM 105 – Visualizing Chemistry. None of the Applied
Science audience will/should have any experience with the
Visualizing Chemistry class as it is for non-science majors,
and those looking to fill the 2-credit science requirement. However, this class presents a unique forum in chemistry as it is the only one taught as a survey/seminar in
chemistry fundamentals and current topics. What else you
ask? Well as many of us know, if you know Dr. Schultz, Dr.
Nold, or Dr. Bomar at all then you've already "volunteered"
for duty in the annual Science Olympiad competition. The
last few years I've acted as an Event Supervisor for a new
event called Materials Science which focuses on just
that. Last year I had the honor of running the event at the
national competition in Madison. This year Dr. Schultz and I
have rewritten it with a nanomaterials focus.
So, Arthur what say you? What has kept you busy in these
hallowed halls of Stout?
Arthur: Well, teaching general education courses, of course-Intro Biology, Science Society and the Environment and
Plants and People. I get the dubious pleasure of informing
young college students about a range of scientific topics as
cheerful as global warming, peak oil, biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation and so much more. I also get to talk
about awesome things like bio mimicry and bio remediation. The Entomology that I learned since leaving Stout
gives me endless interesting, disgusting stories and examples to throw at the students. Very few Applied Science students come through my courses, as they are mostly from
other majors. This leads to a diverse group of students who
are in general eager to think about the world. We have
some excellent discussions and they usually make me feel
more positive about the future. We do a lot of service learning-oriented projects, like making manuals for inmates working in the jail garden program at the Dunn County jail. Getting students to actually apply knowledge they have gained
to a real world problem is pretty satisfying for everyone involved. It's busy, it's crazy, I wasn't adequately trained for it
and it's the most challenging and exciting thing I have ever
done.
What takes most of my time? Grading! I insist on making students write so I spend about 40% of my time
grading, then preparing for lectures. So far it seems like
I do a new course every year so I am mostly preparing
fresh lectures which is fun but very time consuming. With leftover time I keep up on current events and
science. I can't wait to see how this whole light speed
mess turns out, for instance, or the experiment we are
having with camping versus free speech. We live in interesting times and I just can't wait to see how it all
turns out.
So what do you think is the most challenging part about
teaching?
Matt: I agree. It’s definitely an exciting time to be in
science. What's the hardest part about teaching? I'd
say the hardest part is presenting the same material in
varied enough formats, explanations and analogies to
reach as many students as possible. That and grading.
It's an interesting challenge trying to meet the learning
styles of so many different students. So, would you
agree or do you have a different point of view?
What has been your favorite thing about being back in
Menomonie? What about being back at Stout?
Arthur: I agree grading is certainly the most time consuming aspect of teaching. The real hard part is that we
were never taught how to teach. I can identify insects
and assess populations all day; does that make me
ready to stand in front of 100 freshmen and talk about
the effect of biodiversity loss on ecosystem dynamics? Not really! What actually prepared me the most
was the theatre that I did through most of my early
twenties. The Research Assistantship Chuck told me
would be so great sort of robbed me of that teaching
experience. So it has been a very exciting crash course
in educational principles. It is even something that I am
hoping to do some work on, trying to better understand
how people learn. Some of the things I am going to
work on with my class next semester are note taking
methods and techniques in a sort of old school approach; laptops closed, paper, pencil in hand and see
how they feel about the whole thing. At least they will
be off Facebook!
As for being back in Menomonie, there is a lot of fun
stuff going on--concerts here and in Minneapolis-although I seem to miss a lot of them because I am
grading or teaching. The best part is the community of
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really engaged, active, thoughtful people who live around
here. A lot of my friends from my first tenure at Stout are
still around and work at the food Co-op. This means that I
get to visit with friends every time I go to my favorite lunch
spot, a little nook that offers food made by the Co-op catering team. I live with some of my best friends, enjoy riding a
bike to work and have been to the Cities for theatre and to
visit family. What more can you really ask for?
Wisconsin is really struggling right now with drastic cuts in
our state’s university system making everything scary. It’s
an interesting time to be paying attention to the world.
So when you dream of your future, where does that take
you?
Matt: It should be interesting to see if there is any initial
backlash to the laptops-closed system you'll be introducing. I once read an article that quantified, to some degree,
the lack of connection of the brain to the information encountered during typing versus handwriting. I hope there is
greater information retention with your students next semester!
So the future you ask? Yeah, I still "dream" of getting paid to
ski and hang out in the mountains out west. I'm not exactly
sure how my current role in Academia fits with that, but it’s
definitely there. Ideally I'd like to combine my efforts in
teaching and education within an entrepreneurial context. I
could see developing engaging curriculum through a tech
interface. I think the future of education is in the hands of
the consumer, and right now the consumer wants brief, informative tutorials on their smart phones for $0.99 a
crack. It seems that this culture has also permeated the
way students approach learning
within the university to a certain
extent. Although,
right now, I'm
happy to have a
great job, working
with people I like,
in a good place to
live. What more
can you say?
What about you,
Arthur? What
does a Nordic conqueror such as
you envision for
himself 5-10 years
from now? How do
you imagine you'll
be engaging the
masses then?
Arthur: I have to say that this Nordic conqueror misses
the mountains as well. I often daydream about the
amazing lunch ski trips that I was able to take during
graduate school in Laramie, Wyoming.
With those lovely carefree days of grad school gone I
hope for just a few trips down the Red Cedar Trail. It
doesn’t really compare with cross country in the snowy
range of Wyoming but it will have to do. I have also
taken up hockey; I play with a few art professors, a plastics professor and a few others. As for 5-10 years from
now, well I have been dreaming for a long while now
about setting up an aquaponics farm. We would raise
yellow perch and delicious herbs and lettuces. It’s one
of those projects that requires a certain volume of capital so I am moving slowly gaining knowledge and starting to put together a plan. As far as engaging the
masses, well maybe once I get into farming for profit I
will have time (employees) so that I can start back into
my first public speaking love, Theatre. Who knows
though? But that’s part of the fun, right?
Matt: That’s a pretty wild idea Arthur, but then again
that’s what everyone loves about Arthur! All joking
aside, I think that indeed the future will be dependent
upon the conscientious and well-informed entrepreneur
to solve the world’s problems.
I look forward to having another conversation like this in
the future. I’m sure it will prove equally as interesting to
see where we and the world are at that time.
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UW-STOUTKeeping Applied Science Alumni Informed
.
The goal of this newsletter is to keep alumni in touch
with the Applied Science program. Please update your
contact information so that we can keep in touch with
you in upcoming newsletters. Share this with your other
Applied Science alumni that you are in contact with, we
would love to keep them informed also. Please mail
these contacts to the address on the below or send
your updated information at apsc@uwstout.edu. We
would love to hear from you!
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UW-Stout Applied Science Alumni Informed
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University of Wisconsin-Stout
Menomonie, WI 54751-0790
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