Senior Integrated Project

Student Researches American Volley Ball Coaches Association

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Colleen Leonard class of 2012
Colleen Leonard ’12

Colleen Leonard ’12 examines results from the first-ever salary survey conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in the February/March 2012 issue of Coaching Volleyball, an AVCA publication.

She drew valuable conclusions from coaches at all levels of NCAA competition for “Money Talks: AVCA Salary Survey Analysis,” an article she researched and wrote as part of her Senior Individualized Project at K.

Colleen is an economics major with minors in math and art from Mason, Mich. who studied abroad in Strasbourg, France and interned with AFLAC in East Lansing. She was an outside hitter on the Hornet volleyball team for four years, earning All-MIAA First Team honors as a junior and senior, Second Team as a sophomore. She also traveled to China with her Hornet team in 2009. Well done, Colleen!

SIPs into Published Works: Alumni Collaborate in Research

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When alumni mentor seniors doing their Senior Individualized Projects it can lead to co-authorship of published papers. The proof: Rebecca (Becky) Tonietto ’05 and Katherine (Katie) Ellis ’09. The two are coauthors of the paper “A comparison of bee communities of Chicago green roofs, parks and prairies,” which appeared in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning 103 (2011) 102-108.

Tonietto was a mentor for Ellis during the latter’s SIP, and the published article includes results from Katie’s senior research. Tonietto is working on a Ph.D. in plant biology and conservation at Northwestern University. According to Associate Professor of Biology Ann Fraser, the biology department has many examples of alumni serving as SIP mentors for seniors, “and entomology has been an especially fruitful area for this kind of collaboration,” she added.

SIPs Presented at 59th Annual Spectroscopy Meeting

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Aidan Klobuchar
Niclas West ’12

Seniors Aidan Klobuchar and Niclas West presented posters describing their Senior Individualized Project research at the 59th annual Western Spectroscopy Association Meeting at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, in January.

Klobuchar worked on the project “Revealing Orientation Using Circularly Polarized Light” with Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeff Bartz. West based his poster, “Revealing Molecular Dynamics Through DC Slice Ion Imaging,” on his research with Professor Simon North at Texas A&M University. Both students have worked with Professor Bartz on laser-based research since Summer 2008. Klobuchar and West will attend graduate school in physical chemistry this fall.