Educational Component
PhD Degrees in Microbiology Awarded from Graduate Research Projects Conducted with Grant Funds
Corien Bakermans (currently a postdoctoral fellow with M. Thomashow and J. Tiedje's DOE Institute on Psychrophiles at Michigan State University
Amy Hohnstock-Ashe (now a Senior Microbiologist at Bioremedial Technologies, Hermitage, PA).
PhD Degree in Environmental Toxicology Awarded from Graduate Research Projects Conducted with Grant Funds
Woojun Park (MS Microbiology, University of Wisconsin, 1998). W. Park's Ph.D. was completed May 2003 and he is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard's School of Public Health.
Undergraduate Research Assistants Contributed to the project
Kate Azar (a senior Biological Sciences major at Cornell University)
Joel Salinas (an underrepresented minority junior Natural Resources major at Cornell University), and
Jonathan Ng (a junior majoring in Biology).
Also supported by the award is Chris DeRito, Technician (BS, Chemistry, Boston University, 2000) who has entered graduate school in the employee degree program majoring in Environmental Toxicology.
Postdoctoral fellows from India (P. Padmanabhan) and S. Korea (C.O. Jeon), supported initially by fellowships from their respective governments, also contributed to the project.
Outreach Component
Regarding public outreach, the shallow contaminated aquifer study site resides within the town of S. Glens Falls, NY. Through dialog and planning with high school science teachers, Madsen has developed an outreach curriculum (via website, field visits, and visitation to local high school science classes). Thus far, Madsen has repeatedly visited the Advanced Placement Biological Sciences class of ~25 students led by Ms. Mary Mann in South Glens Falls High School. Madsen presented lecture/slide information emphasizing microorganisms in the real world, their ubiquity, physiological activities, ecological benefits and the methods used to document biogeochemical cycling. The four-part 80-minute presentation includes: broad biogeochemical and ecological principles; a handout describing the many types of microbial respiration and the history of the MO study site; lab/field assays of water quality; and a slide show in which data from the site supported biogeochemical principles
M. Mann has decided to integrate the MO study site into her educational curriculum to illustrate ecological, physiological, environmental, and chemical principles. Methods and results published from the study site will be presented to students throughout their year-long courses in biology, environmental sciences, and chemistry.
Because coal tar-waste disposal sites are ubiquitous in the Northeastern U.S. (there is one near Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY), they force many local communities to confront the interface between public health, science, environmental pollution, microbial ecology, and industrial development. These themes have been expanded by Madsen in Ithaca-based presentations to the Ithaca Montessori School (Spring 2003). Additional lectures for the Ithaca High School (IHS) curriculum (Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science) have been arranged for Fall 2003 via the Chair of IHS science department, Nancy Ridenour.
The Public Outreach efforts are expected to grow semester by semester. Other science classes in both the Glens Falls and Ithaca School districts will participate. Eventually, Public Outreach expansion is expected to allow this MO to serve as a regional demonstration site for bioremediation.