Elizabeth Blummer of Humble Conducting Animal Behavior Research at Southwestern University this Summer

GEORGETOWN, TX (07/15/2013)(readMedia)-- Elizabeth Blummer of Humble is one of 31 students conducting research at Southwestern University this summer as part of a new student-faculty collaborative research program called SCOPE.

The SCOPE program is part of the HHMI-Southwestern Inquiry Initiative, which is funded by a $1.3 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Students participating in the eight-week program get their housing paid for as well as a stipend.

Blummer is working with psychology professor Jesse Purdy on two research projects. One involves testing to see if vertebrate predators share facial characteristics that would enable prey to detect them. The other involves testing tortoises' ability to learn and retain information through the use of operant and classical conditioning.

Blummer will be a junior at Southwestern this fall and is majoring in animal behavior.

Southwestern University is a selective, nationally recognized undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,400 students. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Texas. For more information on Southwestern, visit www.southwestern.edu.