For Immediate Release

December 18 , 2007

wesleyan students earn collaborative research funding

LINCOLN, Neb. — Three Nebraska Wesleyan University students and their professors have been awarded funds to complete collaborative research projects.

The Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Fund was established to fund student research or other scholarly projects in collaboration with or mentored by faculty. The fund was created through a designation of $1 million through the Fleming estate.

Vicki Koke of Gretna has been awarded $701 for research that will study the effect of continuous environmental enrichment on the spatial reference memory of aged mice.  Several forms of enrichment, such as physical, social, and environmental, have been shown to improve spatial reference memory in all ages of mice.  However, much more research is needed to pinpoint the type and length of continuous enrichment that best increases spatial memory in aged mice. Psychology Professor Marilyn Petro is assisting Koke on this project.

Kiley Muller Cordes of Scribner has been awarded $294 to examine the effects of the Attraction, Selection, and Attrition (ASA) model on the sorting of college students at Nebraska Wesleyan. The ASA model is an alternative to socialization models, which state that our environment molds our personalities. Cordes will investigate the personality differences (or similarities) between newly-declared business and psychology majors and senior business and psychology majors as well as the personality traits of department faculty. Psychology Professor Marilyn Petro is assisting Cordes on this project.

Vanessa Martinez of Lincoln has been awarded $2,412 in funding. In her project, Martinez and Cathy Nelson, Assistant Professor of Spanish, in collaboration with Dr. Uriel Quesada and Professor Virginia Caamaño of the University of Costa Rica in San José, will gather texts written by Costa Rica’s “new narrators.” They will select 12 pieces of prose to translate from Spanish to English. These translations will be submitted to various literary journals for future publication in the hope that those who cannot fluently read Spanish would have the opportunity to acquire a sense of Cost Rican contemporary literature and culture.

Kate Williams of Lincoln has received $1,755 for her project to investigate the relationship between the endogenous opioid system and alcohol. Current research on alcohol dependence supports the involvement of the endogenous opioid system as a key biological component associated with the perceived rewarding effects of alcohol. Psychology professor Frank Ferraro is assisting Williams on this project.

Nicole Francavilla of Omaha has been awarded $1,500 to help her examine how site visits and fieldwork function as pedagogical tools in a religion course at the collegiate level. She will identify, organize, and film site visits, interviews, and guest speakers. Religion professor Rita Lester is assisting Francavilla on this project.