Undergraduate Research LAB
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University
Susie at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Welcome to the Fall 2022 issue of the UResearch Newsletter! Our laboratory, UResearch , is dedicated to promote undergraduate research in the natural and behavioral sciences at OSU . Our lab works in diverse research topics ranging from studying captive bonobos and domestic horses to biodiversity education.
Our aim is to keep you updated on our activities. I hope you enjoy the read.
Zeynep Benderlioglu, Ph.D.,
benderlioglu.1@osu.edu
UResearch by the Numbers
Emma at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Since its inception in 2013, our lab has trained 72 undergraduates. The students working on independent projects have been awarded a total of $52,500 in fellowships and grants. Our research resulted in 18 presentations in various forums, which include 1 st and 4 th prize placements in Denman. In addition, we have trained 272 undergraduate students from a variety of majors in research methods, data analysis, and grant writing through the 3 courses designed by and offered in the program.
Our undergraduate researchers, in turn served more than 4, 300 children and families exploring basic science and animal diversity during their tenure in the program.
New Projects
Led by Rachel Hofacker, we have recently investigated the effect of temperament and social status on responses to predator cues in domestic horses at the OSU Equine Center . Rachel successfully defended and presented her honors thesis drawn upon this project in Spring 2022. She is now pursuing a doctor of veterinary medicine degree at OSU. We thank our former lab member, Cheyenne Helton- now a graduate student in EEOB, and, Xamarie Ruiz who is on track to become a veterinarian in Scotland for horse wrangling, and, current members Natalie Sebunia and Jess Philbad for behavioral analyses. We are currently in the process of submitting a paper on this project to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
Rachel Hofacker conducted her research on horse cognition and presented her results at Denman and CFAES Forums
This fall, we have started a new project on human-animal interactions. Led by Erin Murray, we are studying physiological and behavioral correlates of stress and the subsequent stress reduction during human-horse interactions. Our research site is Ohio State Western Equestrian Facility in Delaware, Ohio.
Undergraduate Researchers
Natalie Sebunia
Natalie is a third year Zoology major on the pre-veterinary track minoring in Geographic Information Sciences . She is interested in wildlife and population health, as well as animal welfare. She has previously conducted independent research on bee health in urban environments and is currently studying seasonal variation in bird dietary traits with Dr. Jarzyna. In our lab, she has been a TA in EEOB 3498 and has worked on behavioral analyses in domestic horses. She plans to obtain a veterinary degree focusing on wildlife medicine.
Erin Murray
Erin is a 3rd year Zoology major with a minor in Human-Animal Interactions. She loves all things animal behavior and educating others about animals. She has started the Bee Club at Ohio State and ride for the OSU Equestrian Team. She is currently studying people's interactions with horses and the subsequent cardiovascular health. She is also a TA for EEOB 3498: Undergraduate Research in Behavioral Ecology. After college, she would like to pursue a career in animal behavior either in academia or other settings.
Jess Philblad
Jess Pihlblad is a 4th year Zoology major on the pre-veterinary track. She has worked as a veterinary assistant, wildlife rehabilitator, and a student dairy assistant throughout her education at OSU. After graduation, she aspires to attend veterinary school and specialize in veterinary pathology.
Courses
Our lab offers 3 undergraduate research courses. EEOB 3494: Entering Independent Research is taught every Spring semester. Students learn the fundamentals of experimental research design, data analysis, scientific presentations, budget, and grant proposal writing in this course.
EEOB 3498: Undergraduate Research in Behavioral Ecology is offered every Fall. A sequel to EEOB 3494, students go beyond proposals and actually engage in data collection for hands-on research and analyses in the field, lab, and on the cloud.
EEOB 3270: Infectious Disease Ecology, Evolution, and Transmission was launched in response to the pandemic and offered online in the summer term. Our specific topics include innate and adaptive immunity, host-pathogen evolution, phenotypic plasticity, host jump, the role of social behavior, diet, habitat, geography, and life history in disease transmission in human and nonhuman animals. Students map out disease outbreaks, prepare dashboards, and engage in predictive analyses as part of their final projects.
Research Themes in Our Courses
We launched several new research themes in our courses ranging from ingroup and outgroup bias to whale movements in the arctic facilitating the understanding of the research methods and analyses. In EEOB 3494 SP 23, we will focus on chemical communication in human and nonhuman animals. We will study the role of pheromones in mating behavior, queen selection, its loss and the subsequent warfare. We will also explore how animals form social hierarchies.
Additionally, through our partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Distance Education (ODE), our lab designed asynchronous virtual labs utilizing an interactive software (H5P) that would help answer broad-scale ecological and behavioral research questions involving geospatial data. Click here for a representative lecture on these labs.
We are grateful to ODE's Jessica Henderson and the University Libraries Assistant Professor Josh Sedvari in helping with the content, design, and delivery.
Outreach
Our outreach activities range from studying behavioral ecology to teaching biodiversity, conservation, and basic science to local grade schools. Because the school visits were curtailed due to the pandemic, we pivoted. We now work with high school juniors and seniors to equip them with practical data analytics skills in line with our recently developed virtual labs using geospatial and web-based data.
News
Innovate Conference
Our lab was a panelist on Pandemic Lessons Learned : Taking Research and Lab Activities Online at the nationwide Innovate Conference virtually held on May 4, 2022. Our team consisted of undergraduate students who have gone through the UResearch courses both as students and as TAs (Fauna Whitesell and Eleanor MacDonald), an instructional designer from the Office of Distance Education (ODE) in Arts and Sciences (Jessica Henderson) and Zeynep Benderlioglu.
Public Talks
Inspired by one of our research themes, Zeynep has started a new series of public talks on ingroup and outgroup bias in humans and nonhuman animals. We must ask: Did you know that elephants can detect ethnicity, zebrafish larvae can tell kin from non-kin, and naked mole rats form local dialects and violently expel "speakers" of other dialects? We didn't and we wanted to know more. The first talk was at the Grandview Heights Public Library on October 13, 2022. The next will be on December 7th, 2022 as part of the Brewery Science Outreach Events. Stayed tuned for more events.
Contact: Zeynep Benderlioglu Undergraduate Research Lab | 332 West 12th Avenue | Columbus, OH 43210 Email: benderlioglu.1@osu.edu
