Jasmine Queen-O’Connell of Gardiner, N.Y, Mount Biology major, shares her SURE project with keynote speaker Christopher Norment, emeritus professor of Environmental Science and Ecology at the State University of New York-Brockport.
Mount Saint Mary College students presented their extensive, summer-long research projects at the SURE Symposium in the Kaplan Library and Family Learning Center on Thursday, September 22.
This event gave students involved in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) the opportunity to present their findings and results across various disciplines, ranging from discovery and isolation of novel bacteriophages to incarceration rates in New York State.
Mount Biology student Jasmine Queen-O’Connell of Gardiner, N.Y., presented “The effects of diet on the growth and development of Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) tadpoles.” In this project, she researched how Gray frog tadpoles develop and respond to different types of plant diets with faculty mentor Doug Robinson, associate professor of Biology. She explained that amphibians are dying at a very fast rate due to the lack of nutritional resources in their natural environments. Queen-O’Connell fed them a number of various plants and observed and noted their changes every three days. Upon her completed research, she discovered that those fed romaine lettuce and clover had larger growth and mass than those fed maple and oak leaves, making them the best diet and conditions for tadpole growth.
Following the presentations, Christopher Norment, emeritus professor of Environmental Science and Ecology at the State University of New York-Brockport, told the story of his career and experiences with nature. Norment spoke of his fascination with birds of all types and love for the outdoors, and how it shaped him into who he is today.
Norment said, “You are celebrating and embracing the world. Whatever that knowledge is, whether it's salamanders or how to use the library webpage, that’s important, that’s what our society is built on.”