Undergraduate Research

More than 5.3 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia that impairs memory and behavior. Elon University senior Caroline Peckels is analyzing compounds found in walnuts that may one day lead to new treatment for patients with the degenerative condition, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on Lumen Scholars in the Class of 2011.

Many people don’t think twice about water, or how new roads, parking lots and buildings to accommodate a growing population can harm water quality. As Elon University senior Samuel Shoge discovered in Alamance County, more asphalt and concrete means more pollution in local streams and lakes, and his work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on undergraduate research to be presented during CELEBRATE! 2011.

With their growing number of students who speak little or no English, American school systems have turned largely to one of two approaches for teaching such children. Elon University senior Lindsay Mann compared the models – “English as a Second Language” and “Spanish Dual Language” – and her work is the first to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on undergraduate research to be presented during CELEBRATE! 2011.

Associate professor Cindy Fair and Lauren Taylor '10 presented research at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, where more than 20,000 attendees converged for the July 18-23 event.

Elon University senior Drew Gardner travels to Washington, D.C., this week to share with lawmakers his research on concussions in student-athletes during the annual Posters on the Hill event sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Religious studies faculty and students attended and presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Commission on the Study of Religion in Louisville, Ky., March 4-6.

Steve DeLoach, professor of economics, has been elected to serve a three-year term as a councilor in the Social Science Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Elon University senior environmental studies major Sam Shoge received a statewide award for innovative undergraduate research using Geographic Information Systems at the 2011 North Carolina GIS conference held this month at the Raleigh Convention Center.

The National Science Foundation has awarded Elon University chemistry professor Joel Karty a three-year, $181,000 research grant to work with undergraduates assisting him in his ongoing study of two types of molecular phenomena that govern chemical stability.