What to Expect at This Year's...
What to Expect at This Year's Lab Crawl
Lisa Gulasy
Large research posters hang on walls on either side of you as you make your way to class. You see peers deep in concentration hovered over laptops and lab equipment as you pass by laboratories. Your professors talk openly and often about the students assisting them with their research. You've seen signs of student research everywhere on campus, and now you want to know how you can get in on the action.
Lab Crawl, happening from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 30, is the place to start.
An annual event presented by the Center for Learning, Education, and Research in the Sciences (CLEAR), Lab Crawl is designed to help students learn more about the college's research facilities, to discover research opportunities available to them, and to help them find faculty mentors in an informal and fun way. The event has the added bonus of giving current student researchers the opportunity to discuss their research, which can help them in future conference presentations and other related events.
This year's crawl features 35 stations representing 10 academic departments: anthropology, biology, chemistry and biochemistry, classics, computer science, geology, neuroscience, psychology, and physics and astronomy. The crawl also features lab safety and career center stations, as well as stations for the club OC3D and the contemporary music major TIMARA. Stations will be located throughout the Science Center and the Wright Lab of Physics, King and Rice, Carnegie, Severance, Wilder, and Bibbins.
To get an idea of what to expect from the various stations, see the photo gallery above. Photos and descriptions for stations representing the classics and mathematics departments and lab safety and career center stations are not included in the gallery.
How Lab Crawl Works
To participate in Lab Crawl, pick up a passport from a table in the Science Center, Carnegie, or King, and then visit the various lab stations of interest. After discussing current research and future research opportunities, show your passport to faculty or student researchers to collect stickers.
Each sticker collected from the Science Center gets you one entry in a raffle for gift cards from The Feve and Slow Train. Stickers from stations outside of the Science Center are worth four entries in the raffle. Return your passports at pizza stations located in Carnegie, King, or the Science Center. Collect at least three stickers to redeem pizza at these stations. Candy to help fuel your crawl will be available at stations in Bibbins, Carnegie, and Wilder.
For more information about Lab Crawl, contact CLEAR Director Marcelo Vinces or Rosalind Soltow by emailing clear@oberlin.edu.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jason Haugen with students Olivia Hay (seated) and Mattea Koon (standing) in the Linguistics Lab (Rice 032). In his lab, Haugen and students study Native American languages, including the structures of individual languages (esp. Hiaki/Yaqui and Classical Nahuatl), historical linguistics (esp. of the Uto-Aztecan language family), and theoretical linguistics (esp. morphology and its interfaces with phonology and syntax). Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Joshua Wright and students will also represent the anthropology department in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Professor and Chair of Biology Mary Garvin with Maxell Butler and Megan Michel '15 in the growth chamber (Science Center K117), a brightly lit microclimate set to 74 degrees and 80 percent humidity. In this room, Garvin and students maintain a mosquito colony and conduct bioassays to determine mosquito preference for volatile chemicals produced by birds. Learn more about this research [on the News Center](http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/closing-loop-west-nile-virus/). Photo credit: Courtesy of Tanya Rosen-Jones '97
Associate Professor of Biology [Maureen Peters with Gabriel Moore '15](http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/microscopic-worm-leads-big-opportunity/) in the Peters Lab (Science Center K212). The Peters lab investigates the molecular and cellular basis of multi-tissue signaling systems in Caenorhabditis elegans or C. elegans, microscopic worms that can serve as model organisms to study biological processes that may then be applied to more complex organisms. Current projects focus on the role of peptides in modulating social behavior, aging, and reproduction. Professors Yolanda Cruz, Aaron Goldman, Marta Laskowski, Roger Laushman, Mike Moore, and Robin Salter are also representing the biology department in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Tanya Rosen-Jones '97
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jason Belitsky with student Sophie Lewandowski in the Belitsky Lab (Science Center N386). In his lab, Belitsky and students study melanins, the pigments in humans, and related synthetic materials. Potential applications of these materials include water purification and colorimetric detection of heavy metals. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Associate Professor and Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry Rebecca Whelan with student Sohail Kamdar in the Whelan Lab (Science Center A391). Come to the Whelan Lab during lab crawl and experience the wonders of fluorescence, which helps one "see" molecules and cells, and play with a magnetic fluid that might form the basis of a cancer therapy. Biggs Professor of Natural Science Matthew Elrod is also representing the chemistry and biochemistry department in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
OC3D is a dedicated space for tinkerers, makers, and builders. For lab crawl, OC3D will showcase several 3D printers, a 3D scanner, the tools and workspace, a 3D-modeling workstation, and several student projects. Photo credit: Courtesy of Yvette Chen '16
Associate Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department Benjamin Kuperman shows off [Prestissimo](https://oprestissimo.com/signin) in a lounge in King Hall. Created as a winter-term project in 2012, Prestissimo allows students to search through all of Oberlin's courses with a finer level of control over such search criteria as graduation proficiencies, days and times, departments, professors, and more. Kuperman and students will demonstrate how to use the system during Lab Crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Assistant Professor of Geology Amanda Schmidt and her students can be found in Carnegie 418, where they [use fallout radionuclides and geographic information systems data](http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/river-wild/) to determine the effects of human land use change on erosion and sediment sourcing within watersheds. For Lab Crawl, students will demonstrate how to use Harbin, a gamma counter, and how they use computers to map the data they gather from the samples and in the field. More of Schmidt's students can be found in the Severance Hall basement, where they will show off the Stream Table, a 2-meter long physical model of a river that circulates water and sediment. Associate Professor of Geology Zeb Page and Professor of Geology Bruce Simonson are also participating in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Tanya Rosen-Jones '97
Associate Professor of Neuroscience Tracie Paine with student Gabriel Hitchcock in the Paine Lab (Science Center A242). Paine Lab researchers use behavioral, pharmacological and molecular techniques to understand the biological bases of cognitive functions such as attention and impulse control and social behaviors. Learn more about this research [on the News Center](http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/unlocking-neurobiology-schizophrenia/). Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Professor of Neuroscience Jan Thornton (back) with students (from left to right) Nate Bohm-Levine, Jackson Fried, Hannah Rodgers, and Emilia Varrone in the Thornton Lab (Science Center A245). In the Thornton Lab, researchers study the effects of estrogens on cognition, neurogenesis and GABA neurons in an animal model of schizophrenia. They also study how estrogens and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) affect spatial memory in female rats and in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, and the role of LH receptors in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of the brain. Professors Brad Carter, Gunnar Kwakye, and Leslie Kwakye are also representing the neuroscience department in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Yvette Chen '16
Professor and Chair of Physics and Astronomy Yumi Ijiri with student Ian Hunt-Isaak in the Ijiri Lab (Wright 017), where researchers study the properties of magnetic nanoparticles and other unusual magnets. Professor of Physics and Astronomy Stephen FitzGerald and Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jason Stalnaker will also be participating in the crawl. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Assistant Professor of Psychology Sara Verosky with student Melissa Kravets in the Verosky Lab. Verosky and her students can be found in Science Center K233 during Lab Crawl, where they will demonstrate binocular rivalry, a technique used to investigate visual awareness. In binocular rivalry, two different images are presented to the two eyes and the images compete for awareness. Participants are asked to report which image they see in a given moment by pressing a key. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
Visiting Assistant Professor of Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) Joo Won Park in the Bibbins Hall basement. Visit Bibbins for demonstrations of multi-channel audioscapes, analog synthesis, digital synthesis, and other artistic expressions of electronic and computer based arts. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Manna
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