Undergraduate Research Lab

Welcome to the Fall 2024 issue of the UResearch Newsletter! Our laboratory,   UResearch  , is dedicated to promote undergraduate research experiences in natural and behavioral sciences in the   Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology   at  OSU  .

Our lab works in diverse research topics ranging from studying wild and captive animal health to human and nonhuman animal cognition and behavior.

I hope you enjoy the read.

 Zeynep Benderlioglu, PhD,  u-research@osu.edu

Since its inception in 2012, our lab has trained 79 undergraduate researchers. The students working on independent projects have been awarded a total of $104,771 in individual fellowships and grants. Our research resulted in 45 presentations in various forums, which include the 1  ^st  , 3  ^rd,   & 4 ^th   prizes and honorable mention placements in  Denman . We have additionally trained 417 more undergraduate students from a variety of majors through the formal courses designed by and offered in the program.

Behavior, Ecology, & Environment Program - BEE

Now in its second year, the BEE program trains undergraduates in fundamentals of research design and methods, statistical data analysis, presentation , research ethics, and grant writing through EEOB 3494 - Entering Independent Research and EEOB 3498 - Undergraduate Research in Behavioral Ecology. These courses, designed and taught by the lab Director   Dr. Zeynep Benderlioglu  , enable a select group of students to work on supervised independent research. Since the inception of the program, BEE has provided stipends and research expense funding for 20 undergraduates with grants from the  College of Arts and Sciences  and   EEOB  .

We are happy to announce that our core courses EEOB 3494 - Entering Independent Research and EEOB 3498 - Undergraduate Research in Behavioral Ecology now count towards the  Honors Project Requirements  in the  College of Arts and Sciences . Designed as a minimum 6 credit-hour expansive research experience, ASC honors students who complete one of the core courses may continue as a TA, intern, or researcher in  UResearch  the following academic term to fulfill their project requirements.

Applied Data Analysis

 UResearch  has partnered with the  SAS Institute , a global software and AI company to award an academic specialization certificate in applied data analysis to students in our core courses. Upon completion of either EEOB 3494 - Entering Independent Research or EEOB 3498 - Undergraduate Research in Behavioral Ecology, students will earn a  digital certificate  that they can share with potential employers and academic programs emphasizing their skills in programming, data manipulation and management, advanced applied statistics, visual analytics, and predictive modeling.

We congratulate our Spring 2024 alumni Natalie Sebunia and Erin Murray for their successful defenses of their graduation theses and their placements.

Natalie graduated with honors research distinction in May. Her thesis focused on raptor admittance in rural and urban wildlife centers (Advisor: Dr. Zeynep Benderlioglu). Her study offered important insights into targeted, species- and location-specific conservation efforts for raptors and provided knowledge of the hotspots, admittance causes, and prognoses for individual species.

Natalie is now at  Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine  in Ithaca, NY studying Avian Health.

Erin graduated with research distinction also in May. Her thesis explored  humans' reaction to psychological stress and the subsequent stress reduction after interaction with domestic horses based on various physiological measures (Advisor: Dr. Zeynep Benderlioglu). Her study had important implications for the often-touted positive effect of equine therapy on stress in typical populations.

Currently, Erin has been studying copepod behavior in response to various environmental stressors at the  Norwegian University of Science and Technology  (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway

Please consider giving Funds will support undergraduate research in UResearch.   Fund Number 314718  . The Ohio State University Foundation has 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exempt status, with a federal tax ID number of 31-1145986

Contact: Zeynep Benderlioglu  Undergraduate Research Lab   | 332 West 12th Avenue | Columbus, OH 43210 Email: u-research@osu.edu