Brown

If you’ve ever woken up after a bad night’s sleep and been unable to focus on anything throughout the day, you know that sleep has an effect on memory. But how closely are they related?

Biology major Amelia Brown ‘18 is studying the link as part of a Summer Scholars Project. She Is studying the behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans, a species of transparent roundworms, as they experience differing levels of sleep.

The organism was the first multicellular organism to have its whole genome sequenced. “C. elegans are a perfect subject to study because we know so much about them, and it’s easy to note changes in their biology,” Brown says.

She exposes the roundworms to chemicals early in their adult life cycle, noting how they respond. Then, after they sleep, she reintroduces the chemicals and measures how similar the response is depending on how much sleep they got. This method is called imprinting.

Matthew Nelson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, is Brown’s mentor for the project. He says that the project has roots in biology’s biggest questions.

“Amelia’s project is addressing one of nature’s greatest biological mysteries: why do animals sleep?” he says. “Long term memories are formed during sleep in more complex animals, like humans, and we propose that this is occurring in C. elegans as well. The worm provides us with an avenue for rapidly understanding how sleep and memory are linked with single cell and molecular resolution.”

Brown says that the Summer Scholars program gives her extra time to do in-depth, focused research.

“During the semester it can be difficult to get procedures done in between classes and work,” she says. “It’s great having the summer to really focus on my research. Even though I am less than a month into my project, I already feel like I’ve learned many new techniques that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.”

Outside the lab, Brown is a member of the biology club and participates in SJU’s Big Brothers Big Sisters program, where she is a board member. She is also a McNulty Fellow for the summer.

–Jeffrey Martin ’04, ’05 (M.A.)

Office of University Communications

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Summer Scholars Project Title: Sleep and Memory in Caenorhabditis elegans

Mentor: Matthew D. Nelson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology

High School: South Broward High School, Hollywood, Florida

Adjei-Danquah ’17 (right) and Yates

Eric Adjei-Danquah ’17, a rising senior biology major with minors in health care ethics and behavioral neuroscience, loves learning. “I like to learn in a way where I am in control, where I am deeply invested, and where my experience is self-driven,” he says. It’s no surprise, then, that Eric would apply to the Summer Scholars Program.

An aspiring physician, he’s spent much of his time at Saint Joseph’s studying the sciences, and deciding he wanted to step away briefly from pipettes and sterile technique, he elected as a Summer Scholar to work with Assistant Professor of History Brian Yates, Ph.D., whose expertise focuses on identity construction, Ethiopian history, The Oromo, African state building and modern African history.

With Eric’s interest in African culture and the Pan African diaspora in mind, he and Dr. Yates — who taught Eric in Forging the Modern World, HIS 154 — developed his project, which Eric says explores several dynamics, including perceived philosophical and value system differences within the black community, based on country of origin, generational length and self-identity. He’s also looking at the idea of a tangibly distinct culture as a comprehensive black community. Eric is analyzing national data to determine if socioeconomic outcomes and trends of persons considered black match their individual ethnic cultures, identities, philosophies and values.

“I had the pleasure of teaching Eric in my History 154 class for which he wrote an exceptional philosophically centered paper,” says Dr. Yates. “Since then, we’ve tried to connect on a class together, but his schedule precluded that, so I’m glad this project gives us the opportunity to work together again.

“We’re  looking at specific cultural practices, beliefs and values that are helping to answer Eric’s research question, and he is making significant progress,” he adds.

“I’m having fun with this project,” says Eric. “I wake up every day excited to be doing what I’m doing, and about where this work could lead. The Summer Scholar’s program allows me to be an adventurer, an explorer and a true learner,” Eric says.

A fellow of SJU’s Institute of Clinical Bioethics, Eric says he plans to carry the work he produces this summer into a paper analyzing the “legacy of mistrust in the African American community toward the medical profession related to end-of-life issues.”

Before he attends medical school, he would like to do service work in an inner-city, urban community. Eric is also interested in doing post-undergraduate work in philosophy.

A third year returning RA and a captain for the 2020 Student Orientation Team, Eric is involved with several Institute initiatives  and also teaches for the GeoKidsLINKS program. As a first year student, he received a travel grant to present research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Farms Research Campus. He has also presented at the annual Sigma Xi research symposium and at the American Society for Cell Biology.

–Patricia Allen ’13 (M.A.)

Office of University Communications

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Summer Scholars Project Title: “How ‘Blackness’ is Lived: An Exploration of Cultural and Economic Experiences Between Africans, African Americans, and Black Americans”

Mentor: Brian Yates, Ph.D., assistant professor of history

High School: Preparatory Charter High School of Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Careers (Prep Charter), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Follow @sjuartssciences & @haubschool on Twitter to learn about this year’s summer scholars. #SJUSSP

Krotulis

Hashtags have become such an ingrained part of our culture that we use them in our spoken conversation. In 2014, Merriam-Webster added the term to its dictionary. But what’s behind all the hashtags we see on social media, other than collecting all our thoughts on a particular subject into one stream?

English major Liz Krotulis ’17 is spending her summer researching just that. As part of a Summer Scholars project, Krotulis is studying the communities behind certain social justice hashtags — including #climatechange, #globalwarming, #sustainability and #keepphillybeautiful — on Twitter and Instagram.

“The goal for the study is to learn more about these communities by examining how and why members tweet and post the way they do,” Krotulis explains. She will use mixed research methods to gather information, including data collecting, interviews and “netnography,” a branch of anthropology in which a researcher observes life from the point of view of the subject to better understand their thinking.

Her mentor, Bill Wolff, Ph.D., assistant professor of communications studies, has performed similar research on how fans of Bruce Springsteen form a community through hashtags.

“The thing that I’ve learned studying hashtags is that there is no one-size-fits all model,” Wolff says. “Each hashtag is used in unique ways depending on the people using it. That’s why it is so important to look at the content of the tweets and posts themselves and not just focus on the fact that the hashtag exists.”

Krotulis says that she chose to participate in Summer Scholars because it gives her a chance to conduct in-depth research for the first time.

“I’m excited to experience conducting an academic study, because I’ve never done anything on this scale before,” she says. “The process itself is something I want to learn and understand. It sometimes feels intimidating, but [Wolff’s] guidance is extremely helpful and gives me confidence to complete all steps of the project well.”

During the academic year, Krotulis is a tutor at SJU’s Writing Center, a copyeditor for The Hawk student newspaper, a weekly service volunteer and an intern for the Office of University Communications. She has made the dean’s list in all but one semester during her college career and is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society.

— Jeffrey Martin ’04, ’05 (M.A.)

Office of University Communications

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Summer Scholars Project Title: “Social Justice and Social Media: The Use of Climate Change Hashtags on Twitter and Instagram and the Communities behind Them”

Mentor: Bill Wolff, Ph.D., assistant professor of communications studies

Follow @sjuartssciences & @haubschool on Twitter to learn about this year’s summer scholars. #SJUSSP

d’Antonio-Bertagnolli ’18 with Anderson.

Summer Scholar Angelo d’Antonio-Bertagnolli ’18, a psychology major/chemistry minor from Mt. Laurel, New Jersey is spending much of his summer hanging out with fabled characters from Greek mythology. The antics of Achilles, Hector, Helen, Andromeda, Perseus, Medea, Jason, Narcissus, Penelope, Ariadne and Atalanta, fill his days and some of his nights.

Though it might be expected from his companions’ names, he’s not writing a classics paper. Rather, the subjects of his study are members of a small colony of 11 budgerigars (m. undulatus) housed in an aviary in Post Hall. Known more commonly as parakeets, or sometimes, budgies, this league of 11 were named from the Greek canon by Angelo’s mentor Matthew Anderson, Ph.D., associate dean of social sciences, an experimental psychologist who specializes in animal behavior.

Angelo’s Summer Scholar project is involving him in investigating the lateral preferences the small parrots exhibit and how these relate to subsequent performance in problem solving tasks, meaning he’s examining whether or not an individual budgie might use their right or left leg when scratching or perching — think handedness in people — and whether such preferences predict ability to achieve a goal.

“Studying laterality is interesting because it’s applicable to humans to some degree — people are left-footed or right-handed, for example — but overall, I’m hoping that this project will reveal some broad implications for avian behavior,” says Angelo, who is also the Speaker for the SJU Student Senate, plays lead guitar in SJU’s Jazz Band, and has earned Dean’s List honors for each semester he’s been a student at Saint Joseph’s.

Well known for his laterality research with flamingos, Dr. Anderson says that once they know a little bit more about how laterality works in the budgie, [which is somewhat understudied], he and Angelo might be able to infer possible evolutionary functions and reasons why the behavior shows up in other species.

“This research could help us make sense of bigger behavior questions,” Dr. Anderson says.

Guided by Dr. Anderson during the 2015-16 academic year, Angelo developed a sophisticated three-part study of the birds that begins with observations of side preferences. When that’s complete, he’ll test the colony on a tool-use task, and finally, train the birds to dig for food, testing their ability to remember which sand-filled cup contains the seeds that make up the birds’ diet.

“Angelo’s Summer Scholar proposal required him to write a protocol for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, design an ambitious project and conduct a comprehensive literature review,” says Dr. Anderson. “It’s really akin to a master’s level thesis.”

Which, Angelo says, is what inspired him to apply for the Summer Scholars Program.

“It wouldn’t be possible for me to run this study during the school year unless I was a graduate student,” Angelo adds. “As a Summer Scholar, I don’t have to study for tests and follow another person’s deadlines. I’m able to pursue my own research interests, and hopefully, I’ll complete a publishable project.”

And being up close and personal all summer with mythological figures, even if they are of the feathered variety, is a bonus.

–Patricia Allen ’13 (M.A.)

Office of University Communications

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Summer Scholars Project Title: “Analysis of the Relationship Between Degrees of Hemispheric Lateralization and Cognitive Ability in Budgerigars Through Problem Solving Tasks”

Mentor: Matthew Anderson, Ph.D., associate dean of social sciences

High School: Saint Augustine Preparatory School, Richland, New Jersey

Follow @sjuartssciences & @haubschool on Twitter to learn about this year’s summer scholars. #SJUSSP