Undergraduate Research Projects

–Senior Distinction Project and other original research
Published

August 1, 2007

Senior Distinction Project

Thesis Title: How will elevated [CO2] alter soil and plant water status of the C3-crop soybean and the C4-crop maize? Advisors: Dr. Donald Ort and Dr. Andrew Leakey

This work was published as part of the following paper: Future carbon dioxide concentration decreases canopy evapotranspiration and soil water depletion by field-grown maize- Hussain et al. 2013

Soybean nitrogen metabolism under elevated [CO2]

Elemental nitrogen analysis and microarray data visualization from soybean leaves grown at ambient or elevated [CO2]. Advisor: Dr. Andrew Leakey

Behavioral Ecology of Social Insects

This research was focused on characterizing task interference behavior in the fungal growing ant colonies Atta cephalotes. I manipulated waste management activities within the nest of laboratory colonies to study task preference within the colonies’ divisions of labor. Advisor: Dr. Sam Beshers

Microlepedoptera of Illinois Hill Prairies

Field collection and organization of micro-lepidoptera samples from hill prairie sites along a Illinois River Basin transect. Advisors: Dr. Terry Harrison and Dr. May Berenbaum