Cornell Student Sophie Gaynor Gets Research Grant

MOUNT VERNON, IA (03/24/2011)(readMedia)-- Sophie Gaynor, a junior biology and math major at Cornell College, was awarded an $800 Gerace Research Centre (GRC) Student Grant to allow her to travel to the Bahamas and conduct field research. The grant will also offer reduced room & board charges while at the field station, free vehicle use, and free unlimited dive tank rentals while conducting the research at the center. The title of her grant proposal is: "Determining the reliability of using ITS regions to understand the phylogenetic relationship of the hydrozoan Millepora."

Gaynor, of Skokie, will be travelling to the Bahamas with biology professor Craig Tepper for two weeks in June where she will begin to carry out the research specified in the grant proposal. Additionally, she will present her research (from last summer) at the 14th Annual Natural History of the Bahamas conference that will take place during her stay at the center. The title of her presentation at the conference is: "Can Symbionts be used to Understand Coral Evolution?

Featured in Colleges That Change Lives, Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, is a national liberal arts college with a distinctive One Course At A Time (OCAAT), or block, academic calendar. The OCAAT provides students with intellectual immersion, academic focus, and unique freedom to shed the confines of the traditional classroom to study off-campus, pursue research, or accept an internship-all without missing out on other classes. Cornell's excellent faculty, majors and pre-professional programs, and engaging residential life all combine to offer numerous extraordinary opportunities in the classroom, on campus, and around the world. Founded in 1853, the college's entire hilltop campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information, visit www.cornellcollege.edu