Reflections Magazine Issue #76 - Spring 2012 | Page 9

Campus Feature

REU is a competitive program that supports active research
participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of
research funded by the National Science Foundation. Nearly 600
students apply for these programs but only 10 are chosen for each
study; having two students from the same institution in one year
is extraordinary, according to those familiar with the program.
SHU Professor of Biology Dr. Jun Tsuji, who is Lemanski’s
advisor, directed both students to a research internship database where they applied for their internships.
“We ask all of our biology juniors, as part of the BIO 395 and
BIO 396 classes, to look into summer research internship possibilities,” Tsuji said.
Butler started her internship in Oklahoma and finished in
Turkey. The research project she participated in was the investigation of ethanol usage as a repellent of honeybees. Butler said
the studies confirmed that ethanol could, in fact, be used as a deterrent. She remained in the U.S. for one week and then traveled
with six other student researchers and two faculty members to
Turkey, where the research continued.
“We spent the first two weeks in Turkey traveling and absorbing the culture,” said Butler, a member of Beta Beta Beta, the
national biology honor society. “We stayed in some really neat
hotels. One in Istanbul looked like an old sultan’s house.”
After starting their work, students were given the choice to
study free-flying bees or to perform lab research.
“Initially I thought I would like studying the flying bees, but
after I tried the lab research I preferred that instead,” Butler said.
In the lab, Pavlov’s classical conditioning was used to see if
ethanol had the same effect on European honeybees as it did
on honeybees in the U.S. However, the results were different in
Turkey: when a reward (sucrose) was as ͽ