Six students and a biology professor at Skyline College received grants and scholarships to present scientific research at a national conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Skyline students Lara Wells, Ellen Sickles, Carmen Encarnacion, Michah Garcia, and Richard Davis were awarded scholarships by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. The students displayed scientific posters in the company of more than 200 posters and 2100 attendees at the 30th Annual SACNAS Conference, which was held Oct. 2-5. Professor Shari Snitovsky and freshman Natalie Alizaga received grants to attend the conference from the Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement program at Skyline College. Mike Williamson, dean of Sciences, Mathematics and Technologies, says Skyline College was the only community college represented at the conference last year and one of just a few community colleges represented this year. “Tiffany Reardon, the director of MESA, has done an incredible job of introducing opportunities and working with students who are excited about science,” Williamson said.Reardon says students who present posters at conferences are usually from four-year universities. She credits a strong biology department and teachers who emphasize research. The caliber of scientific work at Skyline is usually not acquired until the junior or senior year of college. “I’m grateful to Professor Christine Case for the enormous amount of time she spent with the students,” Reardon said. “Not everyone can present at the SACNAS conference. The students have to apply and be invited to exhibit their posters.” Lara Wells and Ellen Sickles prepared California sea lion skulls as volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center in Marin. The sea lion skulls are used in teaching and outreach for the marine sanctuary. “It is easily one of the most disgusting jobs, but its value to education and research is immeasurable.” Wells said.Snitovsky introduced them to the MMC and marine mammals in her Biology 675 Honors Colloquium. Wells said the MMC is the world’s largest marine mammal hospital. It rescues, rehabilitates and relocates sick and injured marine mammals that have come in contact with humans or garbage in the water. Wells also said the MMC has an army of volunteers to run its organization. It can’t afford expensive methods such as flesh-eating dermestid beetles to clean skulls. The insects are costly to raise and maintain. Freshwater maceration and aeration is a cheaper more sustainable, non-chemical process. Marine mammals have a great deal of oil in the skeleton. After maceration, the skulls are boiled for several hours to remove oils and bacteria. She and Sickles have done such a good job of cleaning sea lion skulls that the MMC would like them to clean and articulate an entire dolphin that is approximately five feet long and has been stored in a freezer since 1997. How will they put it together? With Elmer’s glue. NASA at Moffett Field suggested Carmen Encarnacion and Michah Garcia’s poster, “Can Earth’s Microbes Grow on Mars? An Attempt to Select Microbes that Grow without Water.” NASA called Professor Case and asked if one of her students would care to do the research. They selected species of microbes that grew in mediums with successively less water. Encarnacion and Garcia state in their abstract that life as we know it requires water, and liquid water is impossible on the Martian surface because of the planet’s low air pressure and low temperature. They chose four abundant and common bacteria such as Staphylococcus and E. coli to study, since these were the ones most likely to hitch a ride to Mars on people or equipment. Their conclusion was that the four bacteria were incapable of growing in an environment with little or no water under the conditions tested.Richard Davis tested health food claims that certain natural botanicals were effective in treating common vaginal yeast infection. According to his abstract, an estimated half of all women have at least one physician-diagnosed vaginal yeast infection. He tested the anti-fungal activity of garlic, aloe vera, citrus seed extract and caprylic acid against the yeast cells. Davis found that caprylic acid was the only compound to show activity against yeast. Caprylic acid also did not inhibit the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which help to prevent vaginal yeast infections.Wells said she found the poster presentations in the exhibit hall very interesting. She and Sickles stood by their posters to answer questions about their research and accept constructive criticism. Professors Case and Snitovsky coached them in their presentation. “Posters are the standard of scientific research,” Case said. There are guidelines to follow. All of the elements of a journal article are on the poster. Poster presentations leads easily to publication in a scientific journal and is the best credit on a resume.” SACNAS, which is based in Santa Cruz, encourages Hispanic and Native American students to learn about graduate programs and seek advanced degrees for research and science teaching careers. The conferences provide opportunities to share research and resumes, receive guidance, develop professionally, participate in mentoring sessions, meet with university recruiters and attend workshops in inquiry based learning for pre-college educators. The nation’s top students present research to their peers and science professionals. The conference featured a Native American pow wow and field trips to the Sandia National Laboratory. The conference also coincided with the world-renown Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. The 2004 SACNAS Conference will be in Austin Texas, Oct. 21-24. For further information, check out the following websites:· www.sacnas.org· To view student posters, http://www.skylinecollege.edu/smt/research.html· MESA, http://www.smccd.net/accounts/skymesa/index.html· The Marine Mammal Center, http://www.tmmc.org/