Building a Better Birdhouse

What did you do on your winter break? Dr. Lauri Green, Graduate student Victoria Roper , and undergraduates Brooke Ritter and Ashley Bent have been busy building bird houses. The bird houses will be used in Victoria's master's thesis research on the effects of acid mine drainage on insect-eating birds in Pennsylvania streams. Check out the photos below for bird house building in action!
~ from http://bloomsburgbiosynthesis.blogspot.com/

Check out the front page of Jan 29, 2019 issue of the Press Enterprise for an article on this project!

Victoria and Dr. Green with the finished product

Brooke Ritter installing a birdhouse

Dr. Green, "master sander"

Brooke and Ashley at work!

A LOT of birdhouses

Victoria Roper in the field.

Dr. Green and the finished product.

EGGS Professor Featured in Environmental Catastrophes Video

Dr. Cindy Venn, professor of EGGS, was recently featured on a program titled, "Massive Engineering Mistakes" that aired on the Discovery Channel.  The episode includes the Chicago Flood, Pennsylvania Coal Fire (Centralia), Hemsby, England coastal region and Canfranc railway in Spain.

 Dr. Venn can be seen starting at the 27:30 time mark speaking about the Centralia coal fire.  She journeys into the Ashland Pioneer Tunnel to talk about the densely packed seams of coal and explain how the fire can spread sequentially through the veins of coal.  Dr. Venn then talks about the vent pipes, installed around 1981 that were used to take noxious gases away from the town of Centralia.  She then explains how attempts to install non-combustible barriers to keep the fire from spreading were unsuccessful. 

Students Awarded Research Grants

Andrew Cross and Kyle Flannery

Undergraduate Andrew Cross and graduate student Kyle Flannery were awarded research grants from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Biologists (CPUB) for the 2018-2019 academic year. CPUB is an organization composed of faculty in the fourteen institutions of the PA State System of Higher Education that fosters excellence in biology education and research.

Andrew's research project assesses the effects of sublethal doses of neonicotinoid pesticides on the levels of the oxidative enzyme glutathjione-S-transferase in honey bee brains. Oxidative enzymes are essential in reducing oxidative stress in honey bees, a factor that may contribute to their global declines. Andrew is a senior biology, pre-medical sciences major from Benton, PA. He is the Tri-Beta Biology Honor Society historian, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Pre-medical Sciences Club. He plans to attend medical school. Drs. Surmacz and Hranitz are his research mentors.

Kyle's research proposal was entitled "Characterizing Developmental Patterns of Language in Autism Spectrum Disorder." Kyle is from Blandon, PA and graduated from Bloomsburg University in 2018 with a BS in Biology, Medical Genomics and Counseling. He is a member of Tri-Beta Honor society. Kyle is currently a BAHS graduate assistant and is conducting research in the laboratory of Dr. Abby Hare-Harris.

~from http://bloomsburgbiosynthesis.blogspot.com/

Students Present at American Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention

Amanda Levy, Brittanie Baker, Taylor Chesnet and Kylie Connell, students from the Bloomsburg University Doctorate in Audiology program, recently presented papers at the 2018 American Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. These students have presented a total three papers with their advisor, Dr. Mohsin Ahmed Shaikh, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Three out of the four students were selected to receive Audiology/Hearing Science Research Travel Awards (ARTA) for their presentations.

BAHS Club Holds Food Drive and Ornament Contest

Dr. Hess, BAHS chair, Olivia Horman, BAHS Club treasurer and Tyler Carroll, BAHS club president

The Biological and Allied Health Science club recently held a food drive for the Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic. The clinic, located in Mifflinville, and founded by BU Biology alumnus Bette Grey, provides free health care for those without health insurance. The clinic also maintains a small food pantry for those patients needing this additional support. Club members, faculty, and staff from the College of Science and Technology collected non-perishable food and personal care items for the clinic. Through many generous donations, four boxes of food and personal care items were delivered to the clinic on Tuesday December 4th. This food drive was held in connection with an ornament contest where students and their faculty mentors were encouraged to make an ornament from laboratory supplies. The entry fee to enter the ornament contest was two non-perishable food items. Seven laboratory groups participated in the contest. The first place ornament was created by Andrew Cross from Dr. Surmacz's Lab and the second place ornament was created by Lauren Bunnell from Dr. Beishline's lab.  Dr. Angela Hess and Dr. Jennifer Venditti serve as co-advisors for the club.

1st place created by Andrew Cross (Surmacz)

2nd place - Lauren Bunnell (Beishline)

EGGS senior interns with engineering firm

John Rebovich, a senior geography and planning major, interned this past summer with Reilly Associates where he applied his knowledge of GIS technologies.
Rebovich attributes much of his readiness for this internship to the EGGS department and staff.



“The professors in the EGGS department were fantastic in giving me a solid base set of skills through my classes to use in the real world,” Rebovich said. “Their individual attention to students really helped give me the confidence I needed to apply the knowledge I obtained.”

According to Rebovich, his classes were the foundation of the knowledge necessary to begin the internship allowing him to bridge the gap with problem solving skills he has obtained through the program.



Rebovich added his work as a volunteer firefighter and EMT helped him make his decision to be a geography and planning major.



“GIS, planning, and risks and hazards are all relevant and used by firefighters and EMTs,” Rebovich said. “whether it’s developing preplans or having a better understanding of the risks during a rescue. Take advantage of every opportunity presented. This is such an invaluable opportunity that can truly land you a job before you even graduate. Do your best, use your skills that you acquired, and don’t be afraid to struggle and learn.”



  — Dallas Kriebel, mass communications major
HuskySummer ProfessionalU EGGS ScienceTechnology geography firefighter internship
~from http://bloomsburgu.tumblr.com 

Computer science major builds prototype for new course

Picking college courses most often depends upon what’s being offered, but one computer science student recently had the opportunity to help his own cause and create one.

Brett Treas, a freshman computer science and digital forensics dual major, spent the summer researching and constructing a project involving distributed computing — a field of computer science that involves the connection of computers into networks.

“The project consisted of networking four Raspberry Pi computers into a ‘Beowulf Cluster,’” Treas said. “This cluster provides a cheap solution for someone to explore the benefits of distributed computing and parallel processing.”

According to Treas, the idea was presented to computer science students via email by professor Robert Montante, who was looking to create a prototype to be potentially used for a new class in the major.

  — Jenna Fuller, mass communications 
HuskyUnleashed ComputerScience ScienceTechnology RaspberryPi
~from http://bloomsburgu.tumblr.com