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Marks, with her comprehensive psychology foundation, explains that she came into the addiction world with what she terms a “more cognitive background .” “See, I was thinking that addiction was [based on] mainly thoughts and behavior—and really, I was even considering the 12-step model of spiritual malady approach . [The model developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and also used by other groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous .] But, my findings have really been eye-opening .” According to Marks, the most surprising elements of the research have been tracking the data, discovering the extent to which addiction is biologically based, and how in some cases behavior can even be precisely predicted and modified . For example, every time she places a rat on a schedule of reinforcement of cocaine, the lab can predict and graph with a high degree of accuracy the subject’s behavior—how long it’s going to take the rat to acquire the drug, how much it will take that day, how stable it will be after it is on the drug . Every day Marks and her colleagues determine points of consolidation, theorize, and put together new research ideas to further the study . “There are rules to prediction; the behavior follows a pattern .”

Marks’s research is fully funded through Professor Stan Weiss and David Kearns’ National Institutes of Health R01 grant (NIH’s largest and most competitive award), and she highly praises her experience at American University . “It is incredible to get so much support, for these professors to trust and respect me so much,” she says . “I have really enjoyed being at American . I love the psychology community that I am in and I have

been mentored strongly and embraced by the professors .”

And her future plans and research? Marks glows as she exclaims, “Well, I hope to find the cure to addiction! Addiction is just a fascinating world; it absolutely plagues our nation and there really seems there’s

a biological basis to that that needs to be discovered . I really want to be part of giving someone some help, hope, and relief—I just hope to contribute a little piece of something to understanding this issue .”

Katie Marks grabs the giant rat by the belly and swings him back and forth as she prepares to pose for her picture . I lift my brow skeptically . “It relaxes him,” she notes, with composure .

Here is a lab of 70 cocaine-drugged rats . Now, imagine the task of daily vermin feeding, water filling, and cage cleaning . “Yes, there is really some inglorious grunt work involved,” says Katie Marks, a second-year master’s degree candidate in psychology (and one who does the dirty work, too) .

Yet, all goes in the great name of science . In Marks’s case, the chores are part of a quest to understand the workings of the brain . With her 70 rats (and one pet companion named Hanson; think Mmbop), Marks is researching the cognitive deficits associated with addiction .

Marks has done other research, too, recently winning an honorable mention for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program . She scored in the 86th percentile for her neurocomputational model of drug addiction, in which she researched and disputed a previous model of a subject’s skewed ability to learn the actual value of reward in addiction, based on over-expectation, and dopamine and chemical changes in the brain .

The National Science Foundation award is an honor and a phenomenal achievement for Marks . At Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, where she graduated as a psychology major and biology minor, Marks had been intrigued by clinical neuropsychology and planned work treating traumatic brain injuries and neurodegenerative disorders . What brought her to do research within neuroscience in the first place?

“I am most fascinated with biology and the physiology of how things work,” she said . “I come from a family of engineers and I’m interested in mechanics . And so, I became fascinated with psychology and the exploration of the human mind, but I wanted to understand the biological basis of behavior, as opposed to doing more theoretical research .” Marks notes, however, there is not much that is concrete about neuroscience, either .

After arriving at American University in 2008, Marks took a course on addiction with Professor David Kearns and became intrigued by the topic . She soon got involved with the research lab . A year and a half later, she is highly invested in addiction studies .

Her latest research, on impulsivity and the chronic effects of cocaine, explores how the brain changes after extended access to the

drug . Marks’s research focuses on a key question: after a person ingests cocaine, what happens to the brain in behavioral issues of impulsivity, aggression, and social behavior? Marks uses the rat animal model and she hopes for the experiments’ results to shed light on human addiction behavior: “At first I was pretty skeptical . . . I thought there might not even be an animal model of addiction; I thought maybe it was only possible to monitor in humans . But, we actually can model the addiction pretty closely using rats .”

So what does the process look like? “We put the rat in a little box, and there’s a lever he can push—when he pushes the lever, he can give himself a dose of drug,” Marks explains . “It’s completely out of my hands how much he takes .” With this self-administering model, Marks and her lab team can manipulate multiple parameters; for example, they can integrate stimulus cues—such as turning on a light that allows the rat to take the drug, or playing a sound every time it presses the lever to receive the drug . “So, he learns that the sound means drug . And the question is, when you take away the drug, what does the sound cue do to him? Will he continue responding to the sound? If you expose an abstinent rat to that cue later on, will he redevelop that cocaine addiction?”

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BURROWING INTO THE DEPTHS OF ADDICTION: RAT NEUROSCIENCEBy Aleksandra Leszczynska, international studies ’13`

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Policy . It’s the focus of many students at AU . To people studying within the School of Public Administration, this subject is animated and dynamic . However, for American University science majors interested in policy, the State Department offers more than just politics . In fact, a significant part of the department’s job regards American environmental policy away from mainstream politics .

James Girard, chair of the Chemistry Department in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences, embodies this broader role . As a Franklin Fellow, his job is to coordinate a report for the entire country regarding waste, mining, and sustainable consumption and production . Soon, he will have presented his findings in Geneva, and afterward, at the United Nations in New York City .

“Every two years, all UN countries submit reports on sustainability and consumption,” Girard says . As coordinator for this year, Girard works with agencies around Washington, D .C ., ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Departments of Labor and Defense . After the presentation at UN headquarters in New York City, his recommendation on how to proceed will reach the halls of the U .S . Capitol, where elected officials can enact them into law .

Throughout the past 20 years, sustainability

and consumption have been two of the leading issues in the United States . Most climate change proponents argue that the United States is lagging behind Western Europe in sustainability . However, Girard’s research shows that, “we are way ahead of most of the Western world,” he says . “I’ve seen some of the other countries’ reports, and am very pleased with ours .”

However, the United States is far from perfect . With regards to consumption, Girard says the

country is “crawling, but at least making some progress .” He believes the best way to fix this is through local action and environmental knowledge . “An educated consumer is the best consumer,” he says . U .S . citizens who drive hybrid cars, for example, are leading the struggle to consume less — their cars use lithium batteries, a salient technology renowned for energy efficiency . Unfortunately, lithium is found in only a few places throughout the world, “one of which [Bolivia] is not so friendly with us, and if we’re going

to go to an entire society only using lithium batteries, we’re going to need a heckuva lot of it," Girard notes .

As Girard points out, there is still much more we as consumers can do to help reduce consumption . The change in consumption patterns starts on a small scale . “If people knew how much electricity their appliances used, they would probably be extremely surprised,” he says . Consumers buying appliances in the near future should make sure they get an energy-star certified machine . The higher price is easily mitigated by the amount of money saved in the electricity required to run it . But Girard recognizes that change costs money, and if industry is going to lose profits to become more environmentally conscious, it will resist . The best way to combat this resistance is to “either find a cheaper way to produce these machines, or give a government subsidy for it .”

But this change will not come easily, and it must start with us students . If you have a laptop computer, know where your batteries go when they die . “I called up Dell to deal with a leaky battery, and asked the guy who picked up how they were recycled,” Girard says . “He said they just throw them out .” That's the sort of problem Girard faces every day . With all the chemicals they contain, these laptop batteries are ticking environmental time bombs . When batteries just get thrown out, all the interior components can leak . If those hazardous components accumulate in the water, they can cause immense problems for people and surrounding wildlife, from cancer caused by metallic agents to the destruction of a forest .

Other countries have far more developed programs for the disposal of batteries . In Germany, for instance, “they require you to pay a battery tax . You use it up, take it back, and recoup the deposit,” Girard says . Americans already have a similar program with our plastic bottles . As for recycling batteries in the United States, they can be returned to the manufacturer, which can heat them up, flush out the chemicals, reconstitute them, and get a fresh new battery that works just as well as the original . Unfortunately, it’s an expensive process, but that’s where ordinary people and the government step in . “We have to put pressure on these companies to make change happen . It may require government subsidies, or maybe just a general boycott of the product until a new, more environmentally conscious, solution is implemented,” Girard says .

As students, we have a responsibility to take care of our planet, making Girard’s job a little easier . Turn your lights off when you’re not in your rooms . Shut your computers down at night or put them on hibernate . Don’t leave every single appliance you own plugged in all the time . Take the ideas that Girard is researching and advocating, and implement them into your lives . Real change requires effort; small measures like these accumulate when more people act, and that’s the real change Girard wants .

SCIENCE AND POLICY—FROM THE CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT TO CAPITOL HILLBy Jordan Maidman, History ’11

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Do you believe in the theory of evolution, not believe in evolution, or have no opinion either way? This was the question a sample of Americans was asked last year on the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth . Thirty-nine percent said they believed in evolution, 25 percent said no, and the rest (36 percent) had no opinion . This might sound encouraging, but one should be cautious, given that the previous year 44 percent of surveyed Americans thought that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so .” The year 2009, apart from being the bicentennial year of Darwin’s birth, also marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, a fact that did not escape the attention of various

scientific societies and individual scientists and nonscientists alike . Most notably, Richard Dawkins published yet another book on evolution, which he entertainingly named The Greatest Show on Earth and in which he outlined the evidence for evolution . The book is addressed to that portion of the American and European public that continues to deny the evidence for evolution, the history-deniers, as he calls them . Another noteworthy book written on the same subject is Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution is True . The journal Science ran a series of monthly essays celebrating Darwin and evolution . And National Geographic produced a movie titled Darwin's Darkest Hour, which describes the publication of On the Origin of Species.

Evolution is arguably the most important concept in biology . It unified the biological sciences and provided the common ground for scientists interested in such various phenomena as heredity, development, and behavior . Common ancestry and change over time—or, in Darwin’s own words, descent with modification—is the axiom, the central principle of biology . Yet, evolution is not without its own difficulties, contradictions, and unknowns . There is much left to be uncovered and explained . And that makes evolution a rich field of inquiry and active research . Let’s take a look at American University’s own faculty to get a glimpse on the exciting research that’s being done in the evolutionary science and how it’s translated into teaching material for students .

Professor David Angelini of the Department of Biology is interested in the diversity of life . Insect life, in particular . It is fascinating to him, for example, that there exist about 350,000 species of beetles . How are they different? Angelini is looking for an answer . However, his research interest is not simply in the morphological differences of insects, but rather in the genetic mechanisms that underlie the development of the morphological diversity . “I’m interested in how animals

put themselves together,” says Angelini . For example, the research that he conducts in his lab focuses on what gene wingless does in the fruit fly (which is a common animal model used in genetics) . Biologists are known for their propensity to give genes names for the lack of the particular gene’s function . Thus, as the name suggests, the gene wingless is responsible, among other things, for development of wings, and when the function is lost, for instance due to a mutation, the result is the failure to develop normal wings . It turns out that in the fruit fly this gene helps make body segments and specifies the three-dimensional axes of the legs of the fly . His next question is: “What is wingless doing in milkweed bugs in which it is also found?” This question makes sense to an evolutionist, who recognizes that the two species share a common ancestor, however distant . His research shows that in milkweed bugs wingless is also responsible for body segmentation, but, unlike in fruit flies, knock-out of this gene (i .e ., making this gene inoperative) does not impair development of normal legs . This suggests that wingless was probably present in their common ancestor and that over evolutionary time it assumed slightly different functions in these species (development of legs in one but not the other)

while retaining other functions (e .g ., body segmentation) . Why would one be interested in this? Because that’s what evolution is . Says Angelini, “It’s hard to watch evolution in real time . But knowing what genes do in existing species might tell us what happened in evolution .”

Combining his interest in evolution and development, Angelini teaches courses on

developmental biology and its applications in evolutionary studies . In stressing the significance of studying evolution, Angelini gives the examples of drug resistance in medicine and pesticide resistance in agriculture . “Studying evolution is important for our understanding of the world we live in,” he says .

Evolution has also proved to be essential in studies of behavior . For most of the past century, psychologists have emphasized the importance of learning, both Pavlovian classical and Skinnerian operant conditioning . Little attention was paid to the biology of organisms whose behavior was being studied . However, within the last 40 years or so, a revolution took place in psychology . Biological makeup and evolutionary history of species have been recognized to put certain constraints on learning . Professors Alan Silberberg and Tony Riley of the Department of Psychology, who both have been teaching at AU for more than 30 years, witnessed this development . “There was a movement away from the solely environmental perspective on the control of behavior,” says Silberberg . “It became apparent that behavior, like body structure, can be a consequence of evolutionary forces .” Consequently, Silberberg teaches classes on the evolution of behavior, in which he discusses “how behavior of animals is honed by evolution .”

Riley, chair of the department, who received his initial training in the classical learning theory, never heard of evolution or Darwin until he took his first evolution class on a dare . “I was bewildered,” says Riley . “By the end of that class I was an evolutionist .” Indeed,

THERE IS GRANDEUR IN THIS VIEW OF LIFE (PART I) . . .EVOLUTION SCIENCE AT AUBy Andrey Verendeev, psychology graduate student

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THERE IS GRANDEUR IN THIS VIEW OF LIFE (PART II) . . .THE AU SURVEYBy Andrey Verendeev, psychology graduate student

his later choice of graduate school was much influenced by that class he took as an undergraduate . At AU, Riley is the director of the psychopharmacology laboratory and his research focuses on taste aversion learning, which is a good example of how evolution shapes learning in animals . Taste aversion learning, which occurs when an animal associates taste with the gastrointestinal distress, is stimulus-specific and can occur over long delays, which is inconsistent with

the traditional learning theory but makes good sense in the natural setting of the animal allowing for the usual time-course of the digestive function . “Evolution has remained a passion and a hobby,” says Riley, who also teaches a graduate seminar on the development—evolution, so to speak—of evolutionary thought . “You have to understand evolution to understand the phenomenon of life,” says Riley .

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Elspeth Clark isn’t your typical premed . She has already received her degree—in linguistics from Cornell—and she’s spent the past two years in Japan teaching English . Yet the 27-year-old Clark currently finds herself taking undergraduate cell biology and biochemistry here at American University—not to mention acting as a general chemistry laboratory teaching assistant and volunteering at Children’s National Medical Center—as she works toward a career as a physician .

Though not your usual premed, Clark is far from alone on campus . Many others have recognized, after completing a humanities degree, that their true calling is medicine—or some related health field . There are currently 47 such “postbaccalaureate pre-health students” at American University, enrolled in courses such as organic chemistry and physics that are required by medical, dental, and veterinary schools across the country .

Lynne Arneson, adjunct professor of biology in American University’s College of Arts and Sciences, oversees postbaccalaureate students in her capacity as premedical programs coordinator . Describing her advising role as her “primary focus,” Arneson maintains that the life experience postbaccalaureate students have accumulated serves them well in navigating the difficult path to medical school .

Nonetheless, Arneson, who took over as premedical programs coordinator in 2009, personally provides a wealth of support services for postbaccalaureate students to help them along the way . In addition to overseeing the creation of a committee letter in support of each postbaccalaureate’s application (“it turns the applicant from a GPA and MCAT score into a living, breathing, 3-D person”), Arneson organizes health-related volunteer work; publishes a premed newsletter, the Annual Checkup; enforces application deadlines; and requires students to attend mock interviews . “We keep track

of the administrative details so students can focus on their studies,” says Arneson .

“I chose the American University Postbaccalaureate Program because I wanted structure and advising as I completed my premed requirements,” says Adriana Ponce, an ’08 graduate of Loyola Marymount University, where she double-majored in art history and political science . Ponce, who appreciates the personal attention she gets from her professors at American University, also values the fact that “Dr . Arneson’s door is always open .” In fact,

Despite evolution’s virtually unanimous acceptance in the scientific community, recent developments show (for example, the Kitzmiller vs . Dover Area School District case) that the nonscientific “theory” of Intelligent Design has made claims for equal time in biology classes, a situation analogous to requiring the teaching of alchemy in a chemistry classes . This seems to threaten both the integrity of high school science classes and, eventually, the readiness of students to engage in scientific inquiry in university settings where the subject is given its full credit . Polls also show that only 21 percent of Americans with a high school degree accept evolution . This number rises to 53 percent for college graduates and 74 percent for postgraduates . Thus, it was naturally interesting to me to learn about the state of affairs at American University . In order to learn what attitudes students at AU had on evolution, I asked three different questions about the subject: on the evolution of life, on the evolution of humans beings, and on the theory of evolution developed by Darwin . The informal AU poll had approximately 260 answers in return

(both from undergraduate and graduate students) and a 6 percent margin of error .

Encouragingly, the majority of AU students accept the idea that “life evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms,” with only about 7 percent answering in the negative . The number of students who disagree with this statement falls to 5 percent when “human beings” is substituted for “life .” (See charts .) This is surprising, given the idea that humans share a common ancestor with apes seems particularly distressing to some people . Finally, when asked about the theory of evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin, some 81 percent thought it was well supported by evidence . Overall, these numbers seem reassuring and are consistent with the general polls that show that the number of people accepting evolution increases to a majority on university campuses . It is impossible to say, however, whether AU students learn about evolution as part of the university curriculum or whether they come to AU already educated about the subject . The Department of Biology, for example, offers both undergraduate (e .g ., The Case for Evolution) and graduate (e .g .,

Evolutionary Mechanisms) courses on the subject . The Department of Psychology also has something to offer: undergraduate and graduate classes and seminars that teach students about evolution and its importance in studies of behavior (e .g ., The Evolution of Behavior; Evolution of Evolution) .

A philosopher once called evolution by means of natural selection the greatest idea in science . The theory of evolution has been so well supported that it is on par with the theory of gravity as far as scientific certainty goes . The great geneticist Dobzhansky once said that “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution .” Undoubtedly, we have made great progress in our understanding of life . But the fact is, there are many people who deny evolution in light of all the evidence available or who have never even heard of evolution . It took humankind several centuries to accept the idea that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun and not vice versa . Let’s hope it will not take us that long to accept the fact that we evolved over millions of years and share common ancestry with all of life .

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POSTBACCALAUREATE PRE-HEALTH STUDENTS: AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY COMMUNITYBy Zachary David Skaggs, premedical postbaccalaureate

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Arneson teaches classes only before 10 a .m . or after 5 p .m . so that she can maintain maximum availability for her advisees .

While contemplating a career as a lawyer, Ponce ultimately decided on medicine after consulting with her family . Her father, an interventional cardiologist practicing in Los Angeles, helped her to realize the joy that comes from caring for patients in their time of need . Immediately after graduating, Ponce applied to the American University Postbaccalaureate Program, where she is currently taking physics, upper division biology, and biochemistry courses . Ponce looks forward to a future career as a physician, which she views as a “vocation as opposed to a job”—a calling .

Although most postbaccalaureate students are pursuing human medicine or dentistry, there are a few who are taking courses in preparation for a career as a veterinarian . Stephanie Abrams, an environmental studies major at Skidmore College, is one of them . She was struck by the care and attention with which veterinarians worked to save the life of her dangerously ill kitten . She went on to shadow several veterinarians before deciding to pursue a veterinary career . While taking physics and biochemistry at American University, Abrams plans to volunteer at the National Zoo in Washington, D .C ., next semester . Abrams, like Ponce, has a father who practices as a physician—and a mother who practices, too—but ultimately decided that caring for animals was where her passion lays .

A notable difference between postbaccalaureate programs and a typical premed path is that the former occurs on an accelerated schedule . While a premedical student takes four years to complete requirements, a postbaccalaureate student does it in one or two years . Thus Clark, Ponce, and Abrams will all be applying in fall 2010 for matriculation in their chosen health graduate school in fall 2011 . “It’s a rare night that I’m not studying, grading, or reading,” says Clark as she prepares for the home stretch .

For all their hard work, Clark and company have a lot to look forward to . American University postbaccalaureate students have gone on to attend some of the most prestigious medical and pre-health professional schools in the country . A partial list of schools at which American University postbaccalaureates have been accepted

in the past two years includes George Washington University School of Medicine, the University of Colorado Medical College, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the National Naval Medical Center, the Uniform Services University of Health Sciences, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry . For the 2009 application cycle, the American University Postbaccalaureate Program boasted an acceptance rate of 85 percent for qualified applicants, designated as those with a GPA above 3 .3 and MCAT scores above 8 per section . “I think all of my students deserve to go to medical school after everything they’ve been through,” says Arneson .

Few people are willing to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to drive hours away to collect samples of minuscule jellyfish in five-foot swells . But this early morning ritual has become routine for Genelle Harrison, a graduate student finishing her master’s degree in biology at American University .

Harrison works with her two advisors, Professor Kiho Kim from American University and Allen Collins from the National Systematic Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), comparing the DNA of hydromedusae (a type of jellyfish) to infer invasive patterns between the populations of different regions . Harrison has traveled to estuaries in Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware in pursuit of jellyfish, hydromedusae, and ctenophora (samples have also been sent to her from Brazil and San Francisco) . These organisms belong to the phylum Cnidaria, possessing a characteristic most beachgoers are familiar with—their sting .

Harrison has had memorable—and dangerous—encounters on some of her jellyfish-collecting adventures . While spearfishing a few years ago, she was stung by a Portuguese Man-of-War, a colony of jellyfish-like polyps and medusae notorious

INVASION OF THE CNIDARIA UNDERSTANDING THE PATTERNS OF DISTRIBUTION OF HYDROZOAN JELLYFISHBy Gabby LaBove, environmental studies, '13

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for their vicious venom . Her arm turned black and she needed medical treatment, which she never received . Instead, she continued fishing . Harrison shakes the injury off as if it were a normal occurrence, which, from the perspective of a jellyfish collector, is relatively common . “I thought I was going to have a cool scar, but no such luck,” Harrison said .

Although the hydromedusae samples Harrison collects now are too small to inflict any harm, it’s apparent that stings don’t scare her . Harrison's studies began at the Florida Keys College, where she received her degree in technical diving and conducted shark research . She received her BA in human ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Maine . By the time she began studying at AU two years ago, she had worked with NOAA and Mote marine lab in the Florida Keys on coral disease, filmed a documentary on coral spawning, and received a fellowship from NASA to work on monitoring protocols for invasive species in intertidal zones . After graduation, she was offered a fellowship in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the Smithsonian’s Marine Field Station studying the biochemistry and genetics of marine cyanobacteria (small photosynthetic bacteria) . This research was published in the Journal of Applied Environmental Microbiology and was followed with a job offer at the Smithsonian’s Laboratory of Analytical Biology .

Funding from the Smithsonian Institution and a Hemlinge Award has allowed Harrison to begin her research on hydromedusae, dividing her time between the Smithsonian’s Laboratory of Analytical Biology and Kim’s lab . Harrison compares the DNA of her samples from one geographic region to

samples from other geographic regions . For example, genes from an organism collected in Virginia will be compared to organisms collected in San Francisco to try and find invasive patterns between the populations of different regions . “The goal,” Harrison says, “ is to see if you can apply phylogeography to understand the movement of invasive species .” Phylogeography considers the geographic distribution of populations to determine their evolutionary history .

How does this work? Assume, for example, there are three jellyfish DNA samples—one from Delaware, another from New Jersey, and the last from Maryland . A genetic comparison shows that the samples from Delaware and New Jersey are the most similar . Therefore, you can deduce that the jellyfish frequently move between Delaware and New Jersey .

In terms of Harrison's work, populations of jellyfish that move between estuaries will have higher genetic variation because they are interbreeding with one another, while isolated populations will be more genetically similar because there is less biodiversity . After extracting DNA from the samples, Harrison uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to compare the genetic differences between the hydromedusae . PCR is a technique used to amplify a specific genetic sequence millions of times to use the DNA for further sequencing and comparison .

Three mitochondrial genes and two nuclear genes are targeted in this study . Mitochondrial genes tend to evolve faster than nuclear genes, which is vital to the progress of her research . While the first introduction of hydromedusae to

the Americas is ambiguous, however, scientists know that they were first described in the late 1800s . Therefore, Harrison must use genes that evolved quickly (100 years is a very short period of time in evolutionary history) to find genetic changes between hydromedusae in different geographic regions . This will ultimately show whether or not the populations are isolated or freely moving between regions .

Trying to find genes that evolve at different rates is still experimental in cnidarians, and there is no comprehensive answer to finding the appropriate genes to answer a specific question . Therefore, using both nuclear and mitochondrial genes plays an essential role in the research because they evolve at different rates .

This could provide alternative interpretations of the hydromedusae population’s genetic patterns . But if an overlap exists, the genes could also reinforce commonalities between the populations .

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Catalyst: What was your impression of the class before you started attending?

Alisa Morse: I knew it was going to be a lot of lecture and independent studying. I was pretty sure that it was going to be one of the more difficult classes I would take at AU. At first I was intimidated because I had taken chemistry in high school, and I knew some of it would be review, and there would be difficult components in the lab section. I was a little intimated too by the fact that I would be in a class with premed students and students who were going to use chemistry in their profession. But I knew I had good background knowledge, but was expecting it to be hard.

Catalyst: Talk about some of the subjects you covered in class.

AM: General Chemistry I covered all the basics: nomenclature, stoichiometry, and structures. General Chemistry did a great job functioning as an introductory course.

Catalyst: Did you find the class to be more difficult than other humanities classes?

AM: I did—mostly because mathematics and chemistry were not my strong point. For me, chemistry was more difficult because my mind wasn’t mathematically inclined or chemistry inclined, so I found it more difficult because the logic didn’t always make sense to me, once I got into higher levels. I also don’t memorize well!

Catalyst: What was your favorite part of the class?

AM: My favorite part of General Chemistry was the lab section. I was actually able to put into practice things I learned in class. It was not just writing down

concepts; it was applying them to create something. I enjoyed the hands-on learning.

Catalyst: What was your least favorite part of the class?

AM: Stoichiometry was one of my least favorite sections of the class but it is imperative. You need to know it to do anything in chemistry.

Catalyst: Have you seen benefits from taking General Chemistry?

AM: It’s kind of tricky because the benefits are huge for people who have the sciences as their major. As a film major, it’s a bit harder to explain. The process of going through things that I learned, especially problem solving, has helped me on a film set. If I hadn’t taken a class like chemistry, I probably wouldn’t have been able to solve some of those problems. The basic knowledge of sciences enriches my collegiate learning—it’s allowed me the opportunity to go beyond the arts and allowed me to realize there are so many things that go into the mechanics of filmmaking and the technical aspects of it.

Catalyst: Would you recommend this class to anyone else seeking a science-related general education class?

AM: I’d recommend it to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of things that make up the world around you and what causes neo-lighting and other mechanics—it’s doable for anyone, especially the way it’s taught at AU—it’s amazing where you’ll find chemistry in your daily life. In photography class there’s a huge amount of chemistry involved, and even in filmmaking.

Science Issues—Darwin on Our Minds

The presidential election of 2008 was an explosive year for politics and ideologies. Obama's first year

in office saw the rise of the health-care reform debate and renewed par ty politics, which put sensitive

scientific issues in the forefront in the American living room once again. The ban on stem cell research

was lifted and a renewed push for a greater space exploration budget is currently taking place. In the

midst of these revolutionary achievements, 2009 was foremost a celebratory year for the sciences.

With the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's bir th in addition to the 150th anniversary of his seminal

classic on evolutionary thought The Origin of Species, 2009 was a year in which all members of the

human race had the chance to ponder the multitude of achievements of one man, his groundbreaking

theories, and the ardent debates he inspired.

With this in mind, the spring 2010 issue of Catalyst magazine will feature a thought-provoking ar ticle

by graduate student Andrey Verendeev, who surveyed several hundred students at American University

on their opinions about evolution and contrasted his results to the national statistics on the American

population's acceptance of Darwin's theories. After reading this issue, perhaps you might find yourself

more intrigued by Darwin's reasoning in the absence of DNA analysis or his doggedness to find a

solution to a puzzling intellectual problem. Maybe his detailed qualitative observations or his unceasing

curiosity in the world around him from mollusks to finches will inspire you in your own scientific

endeavors.

Whatever your thoughts on Darwin, natural selection, and creationism, this year will again witness a

reunion of human thought and scholarly discussion among those who unfailingly accept Darwin, those

who unequivocally reject him, and the spectrum of beliefs that lies in between. As students, we can

reflect on this year in humble appreciation of a young man whose stubborn refusal to commit to his

academics led to an impulsive journey on the HMS Beagle and a subsequent lifelong fascination for

science and progress, a fascination that ignites passion even today.

Shirin Karimi, coeditor

Mission Statement:

A catalyst, as defined by scientists, facilitates chemical

reactions by bringing together substances that might not

interact in its absence. Similarly, Catalyst is one place

where all the sciences come together to relay exciting

scientific developments happening at AU, in the AU

community, and beyond.

Catalyst is a semiannual magazine created to promote

discourse and keep us up to date about how science at

AU affects and inspires us all. Our mission is to: serve

students and faculty in the sciences as a means to

inspire, inform, and promote discourse; share news and

accomplishments of students and faculty; inform students

of timely and valuable opportunities; raise the profile of

the sciences at AU; and expose students outside of CAS

to exciting science classes.

Our success will be measured by how useful and

informative you find this publication. So we want

to hear from you!

Editors: Shirin Karimi, literature and premedical studies ’11

Andrew Frank, biology and environmental science '11

catalyst.au@gmail.com

Faculty Advisor:

Christopher Tudge

ctudge@american.edu

EDITORIAL

ON THE COVER

Catalyst is supported in part through generous donations from alumni and friends of the College of Arts and Sciences.

If you wish to make a donation online, go to giving.american.edu. Select Make a Gift and choose the College of Arts and

Sciences under Area of Benefit, then fill in the amount of your donation. At the Designation/In honor of window, key in Catalyst

magazine. Thank you.

Inspired by the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the cover features Professor Philip Johnson of the College of Ar ts and Sciences' Depar tment of Physics. Photo by Jeff Watts.

Please submit letters to the editor to catalyst.au@gmail.com.

COOL SCIENCE CLASSESStudent: Alisa Morse, film and media arts, ’11Class: General Chemistry I: Professor Douglas Fox

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INVASION OF THE CNIDARIA(continued from previous page)

Harrison shared one situation in which her research has led to new discoveries in her field. When collecting samples in Lake Ponchartain, Louisiana, Harrison found several blackfordia medusae. Its scientific name, Blackfordia virginica, explains why this was so strange. Normally, this cnidarian is found in Virginia. “No one had reported it there before I found it this summer,” Harrison said. But what makes the situation even stranger is that there has been very little genetic diversity within populations in the geographic region. Normally, low genetic diversity corresponds to isolated populations, which contradicts the initial presence of blackfordia in Louisiana. Instead, this may mean only a few individuals were introduced and have begun to populate the estuary. But what accounts for this movement between regions? “Every answer raises 20 more questions,” Harrison says.

While it is generally assumed that the hydromedusae samples are invasive, Harrison hopes her research will provide information on monitoring the movements of the cnidarians. It is important to know where the organisms are being introduced, where they are spreading to, and their degree of genetic diversity. When these results are documented, management protocols can be created to protect local zooplankton populations upon which these organisms feed. However, once an invasive species has been introduced, it is incredibly hard to eradicate.

“The Hot Spot for Science Education”

Catalyst is published semiannually by the

College of Ar ts and Sciences

American University

4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20016

www.american.edu/cas/catalyst