Aggie students will present research to legislators

Utah legislators will spend Thursday in the Capitol Rotunda, talking to 31 USU students, as well as a group from the University of Utah, about their undergraduate research.USU created Undergraduate Research Day in 2001, with the goal to communicate to legislators the value of students obtaining their undergraduate education at a research university. The university combined with the University of Utah to share students’ research from different disciplines from around Utah.”One of the benefits of undergraduate research is that it provides a venue for students to apply their classroom skills to real-world issues, and it puts them in the practice of becoming society’s problem solvers,” said Brent Miller, vice president for research.Erin Fleming, sophomore studying fisheries and aquatic science, is one of the students whose research will be presented Thursday. While working in the Limnology Lab on campus, she has done research on brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake and the possibility of their role in transferring methylmercury, a toxic metal found in local waterfowl, from the deep brine layer of the South Arm to the birds feeding on them.”Being able to present my research and represent our school at the Capitol is a huge honor,” Fleming said. “I will do my best to let our state politicians know how outstanding our school is.”Fleming’s project is one of 26 different projects that will be presented. Students’ research ranges from interpretive programming in local hospitals, to snow goose reproduction, to the impact of math placement exams on students.

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