At CBU students don't just study science, they do science. In addition to having labs with most science lecture courses (20 of 25 biology courses, 12 of 16 chemistry courses, and 7 of 12 physics courses have labs), every science degree has a research requirement in the senior year. We have an Annual Student Research Poster Session at CBU where students get to present their research, and see other students' research, right on campus. The picture on the left was taken at the 2006 session on April 18, 2006. Follow the links to see pictures from previous years: the 2008 Session, the 2007 Session, the 2006 Session, the 2005 Session, the 2004 Session, the 2003 Session, the 2002 Session, the 2001 Session, the 2000 Session, and the 1999 Session.

In addition to the in-house session, CBU students have presented their research at regional and national meetings and have achieved top honors - see below for details.

For student research in Biology, see the Biology Student Research page.

Fro student research in Chemistry, see the Chemistry Student Research page.

For student research in Computer Science, Mathematics, Natural Science, and Physics, see below.

Computer Science and Mathematics

Computer Science majors have a senior project whose sponsor is a person in the business world.

Math majors have a senior project whose sponsor is a person in the business world or a faculty member.

This spring (2008), Adam Zaloudek designed and implemented an online database of customers and their orders for a small business in Memphis.  Matthew Nelson investigated the use of Fourier transforms in optics in image and signal processing.  Ceylow Mooney investigated the chaotic behavior of logistic functions with theory and computer experiments.

Last spring (2007), J.P.Masterson worked with Professor Cathy Carter (CBU) and presented a paper at the Student Research Poster Session on The Perron-Frobenius Theorem and Team Rankings: Use of matrix operations to rank the CBU Men's Basketball Team. Nathanm Chantara also worked with Professor Cathy Carter (CBU) and presented a paper at the Student Research Poster Session on Group Theory and the Rubik's Cube.

In 2006, Shawn Morgan presented a poster "CBU Baseball and the Markov Chain" at the CBU poster session. His research advisor was Professor Cathy Carter.

In 2005, Micah Wheeler presented his research poster at the CBU poster session. It was entitled "A Trapezoidal Method for a Volterra System of Integral Equations." The Maple worksheet developed from this research has been published by Maplesoft at the Maple Application Center web site which can be found here . Micah is pictured with his research advisor, Dr. Leigh Becker, on the right. Al Whittington presented his research poster at the CBU poster session in 2005. It was entitled "Elliptical Geometery". His research advisor was Br. Joel Baumeyer.

In the picture on the left Johan Reimann talks to Ms. Carter about his math research poster displayed at the CBU poster session in April, 2001. His project was entitled: "Optimal Resource Distribution in a Network."

In 1999, Jason Sass worked with Dr. Leigh Becker in the area of differential equations and presented his research on March 5-6, 1999, at the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America. The title is "A Mathematical Study of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Chemical Reaction".

In 1998, Cathy Eichholz, one of our computer science majors, won acceptance into the CRA (Computing Research Association) Mentor Project. This provides a research opportunity during the summer and involves a stipend for the student.

In the past couple of years, Shital Shah, one of our computer science majors, won a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate award in computer science. Meg Johnson, one of our mathematics majors, won a similar award in mathematics.
 

Natural Science

Our Natural Science majors often have a research project more in line with the general science nature of the degree. There are several avenues open to them. They can work with the professor in charge of the senior research. They can work with one of the psychology professors. Or, for those specializing in one of the particular areas of science (such as biology), they have the same opportunities to work with researchers as the other majors have.

Physics & Engineering Physics

This spring (2007) Mathew Morgan worked with Dr. John Varriano (CBU) and presented a paper at the Student Research Poster Session on Using Quantum Oscillators and Perturbation Theory to Estimate the Van der Waals Force.

Michael Morris (pictured on the right with Dr. Holmes and Dr. Beard) presented the results of his senior research project at the CBU Student Research Poster Session on April 20, 2004 and in a talk at the School of Sciences on April 29, 2004. Michael's project, entitled "Empirical Analysis of Two Methods for the Determination of Planck’s Constant", was performed in the Optics Laboratory at CBU. The first method relied on the photoelectric effect to measure h while the second method used photonic emission from light emitting diodes.

Michael McClung (Physics/Engineeirng Physics, 2002) (see Michael's picture on the left) participated in the 2001 National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Michael spent ten weeks with the high energy physics group and assisted in the construction and testing of a muon detector to be used at CERN. The testing phase will be conducted at the Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF) in Vancouver. The program covers cost for travel, room and board, and gives a research stipend.

During the summer of 1998, Roberto Martinez II was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy Research Undergraduate Laboratory Fellowship at Ames Laboratory, located on the campus of Iowa State University. Roberto worked for 10 weeks in the summer with Dr. David Vaknin in condensed matter physics. Specifically, they used x-ray scattering in liquids to investigate quasicrystalline structures. The fellowship included travel expenses, housing, and a stipend.

Recent research projects performed by our physics and engineering physics majors over the last couple of years are located at: physics student research

To the right is a view from the 2001 CBU Senior Research Poster Session held on April 17, 2001.