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Website: 2009 Colby College Undergraduate Research Symposium, Colby College

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

Colby College Undergraduate Research Symposium 2009 Website

Contents:

Keynote Speaker

Schedule - Wednesday

Schedule - Thursday

Schedule - Friday

Poster Program

Associated Sessions

Abstracts

Honors Program

Independent Study Projects

Participating Departments/Programs

Schedule Of Presentations, Colby College

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

No abstract provided.

Learning The Lay Of Their Land: Data Recording By Maine Land Trusts, Patrick John Roche

Honors Theses

Land trusts have led the recent, rapid expansion in private land conservation in the US. As they have grown, many questions have emerged as to the value of their conservation efforts, especially in the long-term. To address this data gap, studies have evaluated easement restrictions and the characteristics of land trust protected property. I take a novel approach by investigating the data that land trusts record about their protected properties and its impact on their capacity to protect conservation values. I surveyed 55 land trusts operating in Maine about data they record in baseline documentation reports. A majority (82%) had …

Factors Influencing Conservation Success Or Failure In Tiger Range States, Megan C. Saunders

Honors Theses

Tigers are currently found in 13 countries. Three of eight recognized subspecies are extinct and the other subspecies are considered endangered throughout their range. Major threats to tigers include habitat and prey loss and poaching. Most studies of tiger decline, to date, have explored direct threats. This study uses a range-wide approach to explore possible underlying drivers of tiger decline. I used recent tiger population estimates and identified 6 biological measures and 27 socioeconomic measures to ask why some countries are more successful in conserving tigers than others. Data were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses in SPSS. Higher rates …

The Colby Echo (2008-11-19), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-11-12), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-09-24), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-09-17), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-09-10), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

Designing A Green Graduation At Colby College, Alaina J. Clark

Honors Theses

Lately, there has been a growing trend of “green” events. The increase in understanding and discussions about the future climate has caused people throughout the world to become concerned about their contribution to climate change. This is true in the Northeast United States as well. Many New England colleges and universities, including Colby College in Waterville, Maine, are becoming leaders in climate change mitigation. As a teaching institution, Colby has recognized that public education is an important part of the solution to the climate crisis. Colby also understands that commencement weekend is an ideal opportunity for climate change education. As …

The Colby Echo (2008-04-30), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-04-23), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

Organic Farms And Agricultural Chemicals In Maine, Rose Becker ('08)

Atlas of Maine

Organic Farms and Agricultural Chemicals in Maine shows the percentage of land treated by pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other chemicals in each of the sixteen counties in Maine.

Wetlands And Development In Maine, Alaina Clark ('08)

Atlas of Maine

This map shows the distribution of wetlands in comparison to areas of development in Maine.

Fault Lines And Earthquakes Of Maine, 1568-2005, Caitlin Dufraine ('09)

Atlas of Maine

This map shows the fault lines in the state of Maine, and represents the locations and magnitudes of all the earthquakes that have occurred in the state of Maine from 1568 to 2005. It also includes the earthquakes that occurred outside of Maine but that may have been felt in Maine.

Electrical Hookups And Service Providers In Maine, Eric Hansen ('08)

Atlas of Maine

The electrical hookup layer was provided by the Maine State Planning Office and shows the number of commerical and residential electrcal hookups in 2004. These data were provided by Central Maine Power Company and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, and only shows data in their distribution area. All other layers were downloaded from the Maine Office of GIS.

Electric Power Service Areas, Energy Lines, And Hydroelectric Dams Of Maine, Ian Mccullough ('10)

Atlas of Maine

This map displays the locations of hydroelectric dams, electric power service areas, power lines, and pipelines in Maine. These elements are related to one another since hydropower is an important energy source in the state of Maine.

Impervious Surfaces Of Maine, Courtney Larson ('08)

Atlas of Maine

Impervious surfaces include objects like buildings, roads, parking lots, and other surfaces that water cannot pass through. Pervious surfaces are mainly natural areas, such as forests and wetlands, but can also include human-modified areas such as cropland. The spatial pattern of impervious surfaces is closely tied to that of developed areas and it can therefore be used as a surrogate variable for development.

Fragmentation And Clearing Of Maine Forest Habitats, 2005, Lindsay Dreiss ('09)

Atlas of Maine

The purpose of this map is to convey the extent of fragmentation in Maine's forests. I chose this particular area to show the immediate effects of logging roads and clearcutting on a local scale. The data were used to focus on current, cleared, and regenerating forest locations as of 2005. A raster layer from the National Atlas database of National Land Cover Data assesses the magnitude of forest fragmentation due to human activities. Roads were also included to emphasize the development of roadways as a cause of fragmentation.

Modeling Potential Tiger Habitat In Hupingshan-Houhe And Mangshan-Nanling National Nature Reserves, China, Charles Carroll ('08), Courtney Larson ('08)

Atlas of Maine

After declining steadily for several decades, the South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is now thought to be extinct in the wild. However, there is some hope of reintroduction, with Hupingshan-Houhe and Mangshan-Nanling National Nature Reserves in southern China seeming to hold the most promise. Our study used slope, elevation, vegetation, and landcover variables to construct a rough habitat suitability index for tigers in these two parks. According to our model, there are areas of suitable habitat within both parks. However, there are some important variables that we were unable to include in our model, such as human population density …

A Visibility Analysis Of The Cape Wind Project, Patrick Roche ('09), Caitlin Casey ('09)

Atlas of Maine

Cape Wind has proposed a wind farm of 130 turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in the center of Nantucket Sound. A prominent concern about the project is the impact the visibility of the turbines will have on the region's tourism industry and property values. It is feared that their presence will diminish the value of the pristine coastline that has attracted vacationers to Cape Cod for generations. In this project, we assess the extent to which Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket will be visually affected by the wind farm. It was completed using a Viewshed Analysis in the GIS program, …

Demographics Of Natural Disaster Hotspots In Maine, Lindsay Dreiss ('09), Caitlin Dufraine ('09)

Atlas of Maine

Natural disasters can cause extensive damage to communities and infrastructure. The state of Maine is fairly lucky because natural disasters are relatively infrequent. Maine does, however, experience earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, and landslides. Certain areas of the state are more prone to experience natural disaster than others. Using GIS analysis, we are analyzing natural disaster hotspots in Maine to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between natural disaster susceptibility and socioeconomic variables including income and population.

Modeling Ice Cover On Trails At Grand Canyon National Park, Eric Hansen ('08)

Atlas of Maine

This project used data from the National Park Service, the SRTM data set, and recorded weather conditions to predict snow deposition and snow and ice melt in the Grand Canyon National Park. This model, a simplified version of previous research, shows the location of persistent ice and snow on the Canyon slopes in March.

Habitat Suitability Analysis Of The Critically Endangered Florida Panther, Ian Mccullough ('10), Andrew Young ('09)

Atlas of Maine

The purpose of this study was to conduct a habitat suitability analysis of the critically endangered Florida panther (Felis concolor coryi) in Florida. We gathered land cover, population and road data from the Florida Geographic Data Library and performed map algebra using ESRI’s ArcGIS to compile a suitable habitat map. We found that there is 20381.7 km² of highly suitable habitat and 557124.4 km² of less desirable but usable habitat for the Florida panther. The highest concentration of highly suitable habitat is in Big Cypress National Park, with smaller patches in Tates Hell State Forest and along the southeast portion …

The Carbon Emissions Of The Boston Red Sox, Rosalind Becker ('08), Alaina Clark ('08)

Atlas of Maine

The Boston Red Sox emit a great deal of carbon throughout the regular baseball season because of flights to the home fields of their opponents. Knowing that air travel is one of the biggest transportation-based contributors to global climate change, the Boston Red Sox (and all major league teams) should be encouraged to offset their carbon emissions from regular season travel. Using ArcGIS to map the flight paths along great circle routes, the distance of flights to opponents’ cities was calculated to total the number of miles traveled in the 2008 season. The price of offsetting this carbon was estimated …

Draft Proposed Public Transportation Routes For Waterville, Me, Fritz Freudenberger ('09), Michelle Presby ('09)

Atlas of Maine

Currently, there is a public bus transportation route in Waterville, Maine. However, this system could be improved. Our goal was to use GIS to find optimal public transportation routes throughout the city based on given points of interest and high population density areas. Three different groups of points of interest were created in the North, West, and South sections of Waterville. Using the Network Analyst tool, which calculates optimal routes, using existing street data, based on the input of stops, barriers, and impedance, we ran an analysis of what we thought would be the routes that best served the greatest …

The Colby Echo (2008-03-12), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Echo (2008-02-13), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Colby Oracle 2008, Colby College

The Colby Oracle

Colby College’s yearbook for the Class of 2008.

Abstracts Of Presentations, Colby College

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

Abstracts of the 2008 Colby Undergraduate Research Symposium Presentations.