Luther College is joining the push to mitigate one of the most critical public health crises facing the world, according to the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention: antibiotic resistance via development of a new research-based lab course by Jodi Enos-Berlage, Luther professor of biology, and a summer research collaboration between Enos-Berlage and Martel DenHartog, Luther senior majoring in neuroscience.
Thanks to a generous donation by lifetime conservation enthusiast Donald Nelson, the Luther College Land Stewardship Program has new longevity and stability. Nelson, who established the Donald H. Nelson Endowment, most recently donated $500,000 to Luther, with $40,000 set aside to create the Lionberger Preserve Wetland Restoration Project.
Luther College was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to enhance curriculum and provide educational laboratory experiences for students in the new neuroscience major.
Luther College students Shannon Meehan, senior; Elizabeth Glennon, junior; and Anna Li Holey, senior; and alumni Laurie Adrian, Luther class of 2016; and Brian Gerike, Luther class of 2012; won second place in the undergraduate student ecology poster competition at the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Denver, Colorado, in November.
An interest in wildlife rehabilitation lead Luther senior Anna Ryden of Minneapolis, to an internship at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.
Abbie Hughes, Luther College senior, completed a summer internship with the aquatics department of the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Originally from Aitkin, Minnesota, Hughes graduated from Aitkin High School. She is the daughter of Don and Cathy Hughes of Aitkin, Minnesota. In her internship, Hughes was responsible for the care of harbor seals, California sea lions, polar bears, African penguins and tufted puffins. Hughes gained an appreciation of zoos and their conservation efforts through the internship opportunity. In the future, Hughes would like to help conserve animal species facing extinction or threats due to climate change.
Monarch butterfly populations increase dramatically over the course of several generations each summer in Iowa, then early each fall the adults travel about 2,000 miles south to Mexico to spend the winter. This unique migratory phenomenon is threatened due to a dramatic decline in the monarch populations. Elizabeth Glennon, Luther College junior of Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, is studying butterfly diversity in prairies and specifically the use of milkweeds by monarch butterflies as part of her summer research at the college.
Biosafety level 1 bacteria are often used for research because they are generally harmless to humans. Alexander Schaeffer, Luther College sophomore of New Prague, Minnesota, is researching outer membrane protein expression in biosafety level 1 bacteria as part of his summer research at the college.
The Luther College Biology Department mourns the death of Dr. Russell Ross Rulon, Professor Emeritus of Biology, who passed away on November 22, 2016, in Decorah.
