NMU’s Dean of the College of Graduate Studies and Research, Lisa Eckert, welcomed the local community, students, faculty and staff to the day of celebration.

In attendance was Dr. Martin Reinhardt from the Department of Native American Studies and NMU board of trustees member Brigitte LaPointe-Dunham.

“The participation of our university in research not only enriches the academic experience of our students and faculty but also brings tangible benefits to the local community,” LaPointe-Dunham said. “As we celebrate our research and scholarship today, let us reaffirm our commitment to building a culture of sustainability that extends beyond our campus borders. Together, let us harness the power of research to create a more sustainable and equitable world for future generations.”

Throughout the day, students performed oral presentations in Jamrich classrooms or presented their research via poster display in the three Jamrich lobbies. A record 150 students participated this year.

Students present their research projects in a poster format in Jamrich Hall on Thursday at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. (Journal photo by Alexandria Bournonville)

Assistant vice president Jes Thompson presented the Marquette Citizens’ Climate Lobby Award to three recipients: first place – Grace Freed, second place Isabelle Honkomp and third place – Grace Listopad.

“This is an annual challenge where students use a climate simulator to reduce warming to two degrees celsius,” Thompson said.

Psychological Science student Morgan Wells took first place in the Three Minute Thesis competition, followed closely by fellow psychological science student Alexia Dalton and exercise science student Yousef Qadumi.

In terms of general awards for the day’s presentations, there were multiple divisions honoring students of different levels.

Grace Robinson won first place in the undergraduate lower division with her project titled “Effects of Precipitation on Relative Abundance of Northern Raccoons, Striped Skunks and Virginia Opossums on the East Coast of the United States.” She was followed in second place by Alexandra Bowman with “Does Forest Cover Impact Relative Abundance of the North American River Otter, American Mink, and Fisher?” and Karleene Maschke in third with “Percent Urban Impact on Coyote, Chipmunk, and Mice Populations.”

Bowman also won the People’s Choice award, determined by the votes of all those who toured the presentations in Jamrich.

A’Mariya Peterson won took first place in the undergraduate upper division with her research titled “Capacity for Thermal Selection in Larval Burbot.” Sam Shudarek took second place with “Impact of Habitat Enrichment on the Development of Coping Styles in Brook Trout, Lake Trout and Splake” and Mia Strazny earned third with “Implications of Urbanization on the Relative Abundance of Coyotes, Domestic Cats, and Eastern Cottontails in the Midwest.”

Anna Hill won People’s Choice with “Spottin’ Sallies: A look into the behavioral responses of blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) when presented with light stimuli.”

As for graduate projects, Rylee Jensen took first place with the thesis “Interspecific variation in gut microbiome diversity across the Etosha National Park herbivore community.” Alexis Pupo’s “Embryonic and Larval Development of the Lateral Line in Burbot (Lota lota)” won second place, followed by Brendan Zak with “Pilot Study: Suture Healing Rates of Walleye (Sander vitreus).”

People’s Choice went to Emily Greenman with “Bartonella Prevalence in Small Mammals of Montana and Idaho.”

The last category was group projects.

Hosanna Brindle, Ahna Larson, Chase Stahl and Emily Soukup took first place with their thesis “Establishment of a cold water wound healing model using Lake Superior burbot (Lota lota).”

“Motivational Orientation, Explicit Bias, Implicit Bias and Five Weeks of Distributed Exposure to Counter Stereotypic Videos” by Paige Dolph, Elijah Nieman, Jayden Kennison and Landon Strzelewicz won second.

Third place, as well as People’s Choice, went to Morgan Wells, Jayme Pomper, Isabella Enger and Lily Briggs with “Drug Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Mouse Model.”

Remarking on the value of scholarships for research projects, Kristin Tessman, wife of NMU President Brock Tessman, said, “We’ve also heard that scholarships have relieved some of the pressure to work two jobs, three jobs or more and instead help students access resources that they need to invest in themselves to research … and as we saw here today, you have turned this support into a tangible good for yourself, NMU and all of us in your orbit.”