Ten McNeese State University undergraduate students from the College of Science were each presented a $1,000 grant for research projects funded by the McNeese Alumni Association.

These McNeese students worked closely with faculty members on various research projects, many of which hold promise for improving the quality of life in Southwest Louisiana, according to Dr. Jeanne Daboval, McNeese provost and vice president of academic affairs.

"The faculty who mentor undergraduate students interested in research provide an exciting and exceptional learning experience for the students. The Alumni Association Undergraduate Research program allows faculty to intensify the student's learning experience," said Daboval.

Joyce Patterson, McNeese alumni director, said this is another way that the alumni association can help to retain "the best and brightest" students at McNeese. "This is the third year that the alumni association has donated $10,000 to fund these undergraduate research projects."

The projects are as follows:

Raphiel F. Heard of Grand Chenier worked with Dr. William Dees, assistant professor of biological science, on a study of gram-negative bacteria that possesses an inner and outer membrane with a CDE Efflux Pump that is partially responsible for causing increased resistance to certain antibiotics. This team investigated the possibility of finding an antibody that might bind to this pump, and if successful, provide a new and effective vaccine and treatment.

Chris St. Romain of New Orleans teamed with Dr. Billy DeLany, assistant professor of forestry and wildlife management in "Harvesting Does to Estimate Herd Production" to travel to Laredo, Texas, where they collected reproductive data on white-tailed deer in order to provide reliable information that would be used to manage whitetail population for public land users and private land owners.

Demetria Brooks of Lake Charles and Kari Fontenot of Sulphur worked with Dr. Allison Gibbons, assistant professor of nutrition and family studies/family and child studies, on "A Qualitative Study of Employer Requirements and Career Opportunities in the Field of Family and Child Studies" to collect empirical, qualitative data on professional requirements and career options in family and child studies that will aid in guiding the change process for family studies within university programs and will promote family and child studies as a relevant career option for today¹s world.

Andrew C. Duplechin of DeRidder is working with Dr. Juliana Hinton, assistant professor of biological science, on a project to create a taxonomic listing of the tardigrade (water bears) species inhabiting Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas titled "The Big Thicket All Taxa Biological Inventory for Tardigrades." Tardigrades have crytobiosis, which allows them to withstand extreme temperatures, and further study could prove beneficial to understanding the workings of biochemical pathways, which would help in human research.

Alex Vinson of Lake Charles and Dr. William Albrecht, associate professor of computer science/computer information, worked on the research project, "Cluster Configuration, Management and Use." Cluster computing is important because it is a configuration where multiple ordinary desktop computers work together seemingly as one high performance machine that can provide for faster processing of data for research projects.

Anushoba Regmi of Nepal worked with Dr. Kiran Boggavarapu, assistant professor of chemistry, on the "Design of Novel Gold-Sulphur Binary Nano-Clusters." Their project involves designing novel sulfur-coated gold-nano clusters, which have proven to have applications in medicine, microelectronics, etc. They have provided a simple and efficient way of designing these clusters by exploiting the unique properties of gold.

James Sampson of Sulphur worked with Dr. Steven Stinnett, assistant professor and head of the physics department, on the "Development of a Software-Based Lock-In Amplifier Using LabView." They designed a computer-based lock-in amplifier that would "lock-in" an uncorrupted reference signal and would filter the noise out of a corrupted signal. This could then be used to determine the exact strength of a magnetic field.

Devin Gandy of Orange, Texas, and Dr. Chip LeMieux, assistant professor and head of the Harold and Pearl Dripps Department of Agricultural Sciences, worked on the "Effect of American Alligator Serum on Immunoglobulin Levels of Weanlings Pigs." More human antibiotics are becoming less effective and so the study of alligators, which are able to heal quickly in contaminated environments, could possibly lead to a new type of human antibiotic. This project studied the effect of using alligator blood and antibiotics on suckling pigs.

Sheila Lowery of Sulphur worked with Dr. Lenny Ornas, assistant professor of mathematics, on a project, "Zero of Partial Sums of Power Series," which examined the various power series functions by setting them equal to zero and solving for all the roots. The results are then plotted so that they can be further examined for graphical patterns and rates of convergence. This research would be useful in learning how to create a complex plane.