Undergraduate Research : FINS
Fellowship in the Natural Sciences (FINS)
Learning about science in a classroom can never match the excitement and fun of working in a lab or in the field. Formulating a question, engaging fully with your work, reading what other scientists have to say about your subject, experiencing the thrill of learning something new about the universe, something no one else in the world has ever learned -- these are the kinds of things students experience in a lab, especially a research lab, which they can never experience in a classroom. The Department of Natural Sciences began the FINS (Fellowship in the Natural Sciences) program in 2002 with the goal of providing opportunities for our students to fully engage in the scientific endeavor in the same manner as professional scientists.
FINS students choose a project in collaboration with a faculty mentor and submit an application to the program. Application is competitive, and students who are chosen receive a $3,000 stipend for the summer. In exchange, they agree to spend 10 weeks working on their research project, and to give a public seminar describing their project. We also encourage them to present their results at regional scientific meetings and at undergraduate research conferences. The students who participate learn skills, but more importantly they begin to see the beauty and power of science.
2011 Summer Research Projects
Savanna Parsons
2010 Summer Research Projects
Spencer Adams Jr.
MAL-ED Project in Limpopo: Correlation between Water Quality, Enteropathogens, and Cognitive and Physical Development in Children
Rachel Belcher
Breast Cancer in Appalachia
Kaitlyn Collins
Environmental Science
Karst Hydrogeology Research in the Unthanks Cave Watershed
Faculty Mentor Bob Van Gundy
Chris Stamper
Faculty Mentor Robin Woodard
Potential interactions Between Proteins of the DNA-PK and Fanconi DNA Repair Pathways
2009 Summer Research Projects
2008 Summer Research Projects
Kevin Fowler
"Zebrafish Embryo Freeze Cracking"
Faculty Mentor - Stanley Kunigelis
Nathan Jones
"Nickel Toxicity in the African Clawed Frog, Xenopus Laevis"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jansen
Anthony Kilgore
"Seed Fates at Different Heights of a Tropical Forest"
Faculty Mentor - Thomas Lambert
Crisina Vanover
"Developing Interactive Problems in Physics Through Visual Programming"
Faculty Mentor - Lucian Undreiu
Jessica Weaver
"Cultivated Herbs and Maintenance of Fungal Diversity"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jones
2007 Summer Research Projects
Christopher Davenport
"Use of Differential Display to Measure Stress in Amphibians
Inhabiting Reclaimed Surface Mine Lands"
Faculty Mentor - Robin Woodard
Henning Kuich
"Interaction Between FancC and Ku80 Buring DNA Repair"
Faculty Mentor - Robin Woodard
Amanda Meade
"Bioaccumulation of Acid Mine Drainage Metals in Invertebrate Populations
of the UVa-Wise Wetlands"
Faculty Mentors - Kevin Jansen, Brian Knettle
Shadrack Nthusi
"Improving Introductory Physics: Developing Interactive Problems
Through Visual Programming"
Faculty Mentor - Lucian Undreiu
Amanda Wheeler Sims
"Genetic Variation in Populations of the Myxomycete, Lycogala Epidendrum"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jones
Amanda Smith
"Heavy Metal Sources, Mobilization, and Concentration in Natural and Constructed Wetlands"
Faculty Mentor - Aaron Johnson
Amber Ward
"Zooplankton Diversity in a Gulf Coast Estuary"
Faculty Mentor - Stanley Kunigelis
Janet Yates
"Heavy Metals in Stream Sediments: Assessing Urban
and Industrial Impactson the Holston River"
Aaron Johnson
2006 Summer Research Projects
Christopher Davenport
"Stress-level Determination Using Microarrary Analysis
of Northern Green Frog Populations on Reclaimed Mine Areas"
Faculty Mentors - Kevin Jansen, Robin Woodard
Henning Kuich
"DNA Repair Pathways"
Faculty Mentor - Robin Woodard
Donovan Mabe
"Stress-level Determination Using Microarrary Analysis
of Northern Green Frog Populations on Reclaimed Mine Areas"
Faculty Mentors - Kevin Jansen, Robin Woodard
T.J. Neece
"Isolation and Characterization of Root Endophytes from Herbaceous Plants
in the Appalachian Forest"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jones
2005 Summer Research Projects
Josh Belcher
"Heavy Metal Concentrations in the UVa-Wise Wetlands"
Faculty Mentors - Aaron Johnson, Brian Knettle
Curtis Fultz
"Comparison of DNA Repair Pathways"
Faculty Mentor - Robin Woodard
Brendan Hunt
"Stress-level Determination Using Microarrary Analysis
of Northern Green Frog Populations on Reclaimed Mine Areas"
Faculty Mentors - Kevin Jansen, Robin Woodard
Matthew Pickering
"Construction of a Genomic DNA Library Highly Enriched
for Microsatellite Repeat Sequences in Pseudacris Crucifer"
Faculty Mentors - Kevin Jansen, Kevin Jones
2004 Summer Research Projects
Josh Belcher
"Phylogenetic Relationships Among Betula Species with Emphasis on Betula Uber"
Faculty Mentor - Margie Tucker
Curtis Fultz
"Ku and FA DNA Repair Pathways"
Faculty Mentor - Robin Woodard
D. Rabern Simmons
"Host Specificity in Moldy Myxomycetes"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jones
2003 Summer Research Projects
Catherine Hurley
"Patterns of Speciation in Sempervivum"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jones
Matthew Pickering
"A Regional Phylogeography of the Spring Peeper Pseudacris Crucifer"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jansen
2002 Summer Research Projects
Amanda Wood
"A Survey of Herpetofauna at the Powell River Project, a Reclaimed Surface Mine"
Faculty Mentor - Kevin Jansen
Jessica Shartouny
Faculty Mentor David Chambers
Are Immunological Markers Reliable Reflectors of Physiological Stress in Vertebrates?
FINS symposium
Brooke Lawson
Faculty Mentor Margie Tucker
An Attempt to Isolate Calmodulin from Euglena Gracilis
FINS symposium
Jesse Miles
Faculty Mentor David Chambers
Hydraulic Fracturing Sites and Their Impact on Amphibian Growth, Development, and Disease Susceptibility
FINS symposium
Rollo Samuel
Faculty Mentor Kevin Jones
Molecular Identification of a Plant Putatively Described as Nepeta transcaucasica
