Honors, Awards and Recognition for St. Lawrence Scientists - Students

Students inducted into Chymist honor society
Four seniors have been elected to the national chemistry honor society, Chymist. To be eligible for membership, students must have taken at least six course units of chemistry, with a minimum 3.5 average in chemistry courses, and an overall cumulative average of at least 3.2. The organization derives its name from Robert Boyle's "The Sceptical Chymist."

Inducted this fall were Jon M. French '06, of Gouverneur, NY; Karsten G. Jennings '06, of Duluth, MN; Paul Kloek '06, of Pittsford, NY; and Jane W. Mutoru '06, of Nyahururu, Kenya.

Students Present Research At Geology Conference
Four St. Lawrence University students presented the results of their original research at the 40th annual Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America. Approximately 700 geoscientists attended the meeting.The students, and their topics, are:

· Angus A. McCusker '06, Buckland , MA -- "Geographic Information System (GIS) as a Research and Teaching Tool" (with Professor Frank Revetta, of SUNY Potsdam )

· Joanne M Cavallerano '05, Sudbury, MA -- "Growth of the Dead Creek Distributary of the Missisquoi River, Lake Champlain, Vermont, Between 1950 and 2003" (with Chapin Professor of Geology J. Mark Erickson)

· Trisha A. Smrecak '06, Munger , MI -- "Comparison of Missiouri Valley Hell Creek Formation (Late Cretaceous) Fossil Floras with Megafloral Zones of the Willison Basin , North Dakota " (with Erickson and John Hoganson, of the North Dakota Geological Survey)

· Matthew E. Burton-Kelly '05, South Hero, VT -- "An Analysis of Multiple Trackways of Protichnites Owen, 1852, from the Potsdam Sandstone (Late Cambrian), St. Lawrence Valley, NY" (with Erickson)

Erickson gave a presentation, on "Fossil Aquatic Oribatic Mites Define Paleoclimate Intervals in Lacustrine Sediments: An Example from Glovers Pond, NJ."

Team of SLU Researchers Study Caterpillar Damage
Research conducted by faculty, a student and an alumnus of St. Lawrence, on the severity and extent of damage done to sugar maple trees by tent caterpillars has yielded "surprising" results, according to a report submitted by the team.

The research was conducted with the support of a grant from the 2004 Mabel and T. Urling Walker Fellowship.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology William P. Rivers; former biology faculty member Rebecca Y. Rivers; Jessica L. Henty '06, of Knoxboro, NY; Jack Rowbottom '04, of Norridgewock, Maine, conducted the research and have submitted their report, titled "Mapping and Monitoring of Tent Caterpillar Populations in Commercial Sugarbushes," to the Merwin Rural Services Institute (MRSI) at SUNY Potsdam, which administers the Walker Fellowship program.

For the past several years production from sugar maple trees (acer saccharum) in northern New York has been hurt by drought, a severe ice storm and most recently, by a large outbreak of forest tent caterpillars (malacosoma disstria). The researchers proposed the study to map the extent of caterpillar damage across St. Lawrence County and determine the relationship between caterpillar egg mass density, percent defoliation and sap sugar content.
Learn more