Faculty-Student Research
All students pursuing degrees in the science disciplines at GGC are required to demonstrate their mastery through either a STEC-4500 research project or an authorized internship. Below is a brief outline of how the undergraduate research program works at GGC.
STEC-4500
More about STEC-4500
Students interested in working with faculty on a STEC-4500 project must find a project that has slots available (see below) and obtain the permission of a faculty research supervisor. Students can expect to earn three credits for successful completion of their STEC-4500 project.
Before going forward, STEC-4500 candidates should read the course syllabus and complete the STEC research agreement:
- STEC-4500 syllabus (PDF)
- STEC-4500 research agreement (PDF)
Undergraduate research is a vital component of the learning experience. It enables students to apply the knowledge, skills and abilities they have developed in their academic program to solving problems in math, science and technology.
Students work with faculty and other student researchers to define problems, propose approaches to solving them, conduct experiments or simulations to verify the efficacy of their proposals, and assess the outcomes.
Upon completion of their STEC-4500 research projects, GGC students typically prepare informational posters summarizing their experience for presentation at the SST Spring Semester Twitter (SST2) Research and Activity Expo, for scientific conferences away from GGC or for publication in the scientific literature.
Students enrolled in STEC-4500 will:
- gather accurate information about a possible career path
- effectively use the steps of the scientific method
- communicate in-depth scientific information effectively in oral and written form using appropriate terminology and charts/graphs
- collect and analyze data and present results in appropriate formats including chart, graph and oral/written form.
STEC-4500 research opportunities
All of the faculty listed below are involved in one or more collaborative research projects that are open to SST students. A limited number of student research slots are available for each project however; students must fill out an application and have it approved before engaging in the project. For more information, log onto myGGC.
 | This project involves the detection of both GalT and SED1 in sperm lysate from different species of agricultural significance in Georgia (cattle, goat, chicken, turkey, pig). More importantly, the goal of this experiment is for undergraduate students to acquire vital skills in biological techniques while providing them with a meaningful research experience and credit in STEC 4500. | |
 | In this project, Dr. Fiorillo and his researchers will characterize the parasite community structure of aquatic snails, crayfish and other invertebrates from local streams. Most parasitic worms require multiple hosts to complete their life-cycle. The successful transmission of the parasite among these hosts is often depended on trophic interactions and exposes parasitic larval stages to local environmental conditions. The main objectives of this research are to describe and compare the trematode assemblage of aquatic snails from localities that differ in the extent of urbanization and to examine the seasonal dynamics of parasite infection in snails and other aquatic invertebrates. | |
 | In this project, Dr. Giles will examine enzymes that have the same activity but different electrophoretic profiles, known as isozymes. Plant materials are extracted, separated by electrophoresis and visualized using substrates for the enzymes that produce a colored product. We intend to develop this exercise to be incorporated into BCHM3100 as an embedded research experience. Students can examine different types of plants to reveal relatedness or determine the genetic relatedness of populations of kudzu, the invasive vine, in the local area through isozyme analysis. | |
 | The aim of this study is the assessment of the health of various urban stream habitats, focusing on those adjacent to the GGC campus. Stream chemistry data in combination with invertebrate data will be used to indicate the level of health of a water systems and the level of pollution presently found on our immediate ecosystem. | |
 | This research focuses on the development of educational web-based animations and games to facilitate teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and math courses at GGC. | |
 | In this project, participants will examine the interplay of computers with legal and ethical frameworks. Specifically, in the areas of software and media, we have a variety of legal frameworks that govern creation, ownership, use and distribution. Legal frameworks that impact software include copyright, patents, and contracts. These legal frameworks are supplemented by a variety of technological approaches to assist in governing creation, ownership, use and distribution; such approaches include digital rights management, encryption, licensing keys, activation keys, registrations, and the like. The goal of the present project is to trace the shortcomings of the legal frameworks that have spurred innovation in technological approaches and the shortcomings of the technological approaches that have spurred innovation in the legal framework. | |
 | Participants who work with Dr. Kim will choose between two research projects (PDF) in the spring 2012. The second research project will investigate the potential application of non-toxic ligands to remediate various real and artificial metal-contaminated soils. Metal solubility as a function of pH as well as metal-contaminated soil application will be performed to accomplish the goals. | |
 | In this grant-funded research, Kurkovsky and his researchers will look at how the College's academic activities can be supported with the newest ARENA simulation technology. Dr. Kurkovsky will create a set of three small interdisciplinary research projects (PDF) related to various aspects of systems analysis by using simulation approach. | |
 | Students who work with Dr. Kurtz will be involved in one of three research projects (PDF): The Kudzu Project, the Coliform Project and the Indoor Air Quality Project. | |
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 | This project involves the chemical analysis of anthropogenic contaminants on the campus ecosystem. Initial work is heavy metal analysis of soil, plants, and aquatic life at several locations adjacent to the Highway 316 construction project with the intent of tracking migration of metals through the campus ecosystem before, during and after construction. | |
Students working with Dr. Rudd will undertake one of two STEC4500-eligible research projects. The first will look at the isolation and analysis of cytochrome c from fresh beef hearts or deer heart muscle. The second will look at the synthesis of diepoxy- and triepoxy C-ring analogues of triptolide, an anti-leukemic, a male contraceptive, and an anti-inflammatory diterpenoid triepoxide. | ||
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 | This project involves the investigation of the kinetics and thermodynamics of a novel sigmatropic phenyl group rearrangement of N-Phenyl Pyrazoles. Simulations of the rearrangement will also be performed with the assistance of the computational facility. | |
 | This project will involve the evolutionary study of RNA structure using the tools of evolutionary biology, phylogenetics, and bioinformatics. Participants will focus on transfer RNA (tRNA), 5S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), ribonuclease (RNase) P RNA, signal recognition particle (SRP) RNA, microRNA (miRNA), small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA), 6S RNA, transfer-messenger-RNA (tmRNA), and other non-coding RNA molecules. The research seeks to identify processes driving the evolution of RNA structure. Award-winning approaches will be used to embed RNA structure and function directly into phylogenetic analysis to search for evolutionary patterns and processes in the structure of several functional RNA molecules. RNA structural features will be treated as ordered, multi-state characters and polarize the transformation from one character state to another by invoking an evolutionary tendency towards molecular order. | |
 | Students who work with Dr. Timpte will be involved in one of two research projects. The first involves the examination of isozymes, enzymes that have the same activity but different electrophoretic profiles. We will examine different types of plants to reveal relatedness or determine the genetic relatedness of populations of kudzu, the invasive vine, in the local area through isozyme analysis. | |
 | This research has two components (PDF). Dr. Tsoi will work with ITEC students to develop mobile apps for the Apple iTouch/iPad which will be used by organic chemistry students in learning new content. Dr. Tsoi's research will also look at the efficacy of this teaching method. | |
 | The current focus of research is on the distribution of Wolbachia infection in arthropod communities in various habitats; ranging from GGC campus to Georgia state parks. We will sample arthropod communities for overall species diversity and for Wolbachia infection status. Techniques used to achieve our research goals include insect trapping methods, taxonomic classification, species diversity indices, DNA extraction and sequence analysis. Future research on the Wolbachia-induced behavioral and sexual modifications on host species is anticipated. | |
 | This project will delve into the development of educational web-based animations and games to facilitate teaching and learning in STEM courses. They will be developed by IT junior and senior students who will closely work with the researchers and GGC faculty interested in having animations developed for their courses. These faculty members will act as "clients" and will provide a topic to the developers who will gather requirements, design, develop, implement and test the animations. Student developers will gain valuable experience in research methodology as well as technical skills in graphics design, web animations and programming. | |
