Brooke Vatthauer, Crookston, MN, Presents Research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)

2015 May 14

Brooke Vatthauer presents research project at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Undergraduate research provides students at the University of Minnesota Crookston with opportunities to take what they learned in lecture and lab and apply it. With encouragement from Associate Professor Venu Mukku, seniors Brooke Vatthauer and Rochelle Herzog tackled research that involved the examination of plant and bacteria extracts that might possess antibacterial and/or antifungal activity. The research could eventually lead to the development of new antibiotics, which will be important as more bacteria become resistant to current antibiotic treatments.

Vatthauer and Herzog presented the results of their work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), an interdisciplinary conference where students representing universities and colleges from all around the U.S., and internationally, present their research and creative works. At the conference, held in April at Eastern Washington University, Herzog and Vatthauer presented the research at their session on "High Performance Liquid Chromatogrqaphy (HPLC) Fingerprinting of Biologically Active Extracts from Streptomyces."

Vatthauer and Herzog are both seniors. Vatthauer, a biology and health sciences double major from Crookston, Minn., and Herzog, an animal science pre-vet major from Little Falls, Minn., both say the research presentation at NCUR gave them an opportunity to learn from other student researchers working in the same area but using different techniques and technologies. "We learned about why they chose the methods they did," Vatthauer says. "And, it was a chance to network and consider other ideas related to our work."

Herzog says, "Applying what we learned in the classroom to research on our own gave me a greater understanding of and appreciation for research. I found the in-depth look taught me why the search for new antibiotics is such a challenge."

Along with them, another senior Taoqin Shen, an early childhood education major from Zhejiang, China, presented a poster on her research "Using the Integrated Curriculum Approach to Teach Language and Culture" with guidance from her advisor Associate Professor Soo-Yin Lim-Thompson. It highlighted the illustration of one Chinese language and culture theme using integrated curriculum and instruction and what previous research shows about the use of integrated curriculum and instruction in the classroom.

Herzog will attend graduate school at the University of Minnesota in veterinary medicine in the fall. Vatthauer will begin working as an optometric technician with Crookston alumna Dr. Kari Torkelson and the doctors at Lifetime Vision Center in Grand Forks before applying to optometry school to continue her education. Both of them have been active on campus in several clubs and organizations. Herzog works on campus and is a Student Ambassador while Vatthauer played Golden Eagle Softball.

Shen was active in the Future Educators Club and served as a Community Advisor on campus. She will also head to the Twin Cities for graduate school.