Student Research Profiles

Prof. Jim Lorman

Professor Jim Lorman, Natural Sciences, involves his students in hands-on research projects whether they are senior biology majors or first-year students taking their only science class. Lorman has been studying the health of Lake Wingra for about ten years. He co-founded the nonprofit group Friends of Lake Wingra and was appointed by Madison’s mayor to serve on the Dane Country Lakes and Watershed Commission. “The concept of a watershed,” Lorman says, “meaning the interconnectedness of the lake with the groundwater, the springs, and all the land that drains into the lake, including our campus, is something I introduce on the first day of class.” It may seem abstract to students initially, but before long they’ll find themselves collecting data on the College’s use of road salt or monitoring the population of Canada geese in nearby Vilas Park. His most advanced students are designing studies of their own, such as determining the effects of different salt levels on the germination of wild rice. “The nice thing is, my service, my scholarship and my teaching are not separate,” he says. “It’s all part of the same scheme.”

Professor Jim Lorman		One of Lorman’s students sampling water quality in Lake Wingra.

Stephanie Riese

Stephanie Riese debuted at the Student Research Conference in her freshman year, when she presented a literary analysis she’d written for her introductory composition course to an awed audience of faculty, friends and family. In her junior year, to meet the scholarship requirement of the Honors program, Stephanie came up with the idea to write a piece of historical fiction for her Victorian Literature class. Within a few months, this extra project had grown to a full-length historical novel set at Newnham College, England’s first college for women. Though she was able to uncover a lot about the historic college from her laptop and by corresponding with the Newnham archivist, to flesh out her novel, she needed to get to England. With a grant from the Ebben Fund and other sources, Stephanie set out for London and Cambridge in the summer of 2008 . The Newnham archives surpassed her expectations. She took copious notes by hand out of materials such as the college’s “Kitchen Book,” where every meal, for both students and servants, had been recorded by the college principal. “There were a lot of complaints about the food,” Stephanie noted. “The only fruit they ate was stewed, and they had hardly any vegetables.” She also handled a tennis team uniform from the era she was researching. “It weighed more than I did!” she said. She could not have discovered this kind of minute everyday detail from a distance. Stephanie hopes to publish her novel The Path She Walks both in the U.S. and in England.

Stephanie sifting through material in Newnham’s archives.		Stephanie in Charles Dickens’ garden in London.