Mississippi River Forum: River Research by Student Scientists

Five college students affiliated with the Science Training and Research Skills (STARS) internship program shared the results of their summer field-based research on the Mississippi and Saint Croix Rivers. The STARS program connects college students directly to scientific research, including both field and laboratory settings. Students are paired with mentors already conducting research within the parks, and also meet weekly with STARS coordinators to discuss professional development. The program benefits the parks by increasing scientific knowledge of the river ecosystems, and increases awareness of the parks as natural laboratories for use by scientists.

Presentations and Posters:

Joy Ramstack and Jill Coleman Wasik

• Introduction to the STARS Program (PDF, 1.9mb)

Erin Mittag

• Using Sediment Cores to Determine the Recent History of a Mississippi Backwater Lake (PDF, 177kb)
  
• Poster (PDF, 682kb)

Tony Albanese

• Deconvoluting Lake Pepin Sediments Through Ferrimagnetic Concentration Analysis (PDF, 220kb)
  
• Poster (PDF 1.72mb)
  

Vinai Vang

• Preliminary Spatial Study of Zooplankton Community Composition of the Lower St. Croix System (PDF, 1.15mb)
  
• Poster (PDF, 5.17mb)
  

Aaron DeRusha

• Macroinvertebrate Communities of Backwaters, Side Channels, and Rice Lake of the St. Croix River in July, 2010 (PDF, 456kb)
  
• Poster (PDF, 1.19mb)
  

Charles Bruchu

• Using Biogenic Silica, Pb-210 dating and Loss on Ignition Analysis to See How Land Management Affects Shallow Lakes (PDF, 1.10mb)
• Poster (PDF, 198kb)