Month: February 2020

Sand-mining’s Unintended Effects

Some human activities intended for good reason, have terrible effects, particularly with sand-mining. Senior biology major Lauren Chartier studied the effects sand-mining has on soil quality because soil biology, chemistry, and physical structure are key determinants of unique qualities that ultimately determine what can grow there. Chartier analyzed land-use (LU) histories twenty-six years following reclamation […]

Microplastics in Our Rivers

Earth and Environmental Sciences student Thanh-Binh Duong has been conducting ecotoxicological research, investigating the occurrence and toxicity of microplastics in freshwater systems. She has researched the presence of microplastics in sediment and water samples collected throughout the Potomac and Rappahannock River, and analyzed the interactive effects of microplastics and organochlorine pesticides on the viability and […]

Studying the Impact of Coal Combustion

One of the largest means of producing electricity is through the combustion of coal. Coal ash, its waste product, contains trace metals that can become mobile in the environment. Catherine Crowell, a sophomore majoring in environmental science, examined trace metal contamination within sediment and water samples collected near a coal-burning power station using ICP-OES. Synthetic […]

UMW Students Win Awards at the Joint Mathematics Meeting

Mathematics students Hannah Frederick, Ashley Scurlock and Isabella Gransbury  traveled to the 2020 Joint Mathematics Meeting in Denver, CO, January 2020–the largest mathematics conference in the world! The three UMW Mathematics majors presented their research with almost 400 other students in the undergraduate poster session of the conference.  Hannah’s poster–Using Circulant Matrices for Sharing Secret […]

Students research American immigrant experiences at the National Archives

In fall semester 2019, Dr. Krystyn Moon and a group of fourteen students spent a semester of in-depth research about the experiences of various immigrant groups to the United States. Their work included three trips to Washington, D.C. to conduct research in the records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the National Archives. The […]