The Sciences at
LAKE FOREST COLLEGE
The study of science and Math at Lake Forest College develops exceptionally well-prepared, confident, and competitive graduates.
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Innovative Science at Lake Forest College Your study of science at Lake Forest College will put you at the leading edge of some of the world’s most critical issues—aging, engineering human organs, unraveling Parkinson’s disease, slowing the speed of light, the future of nuclear power, and ozone depletion. Supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation and other prestigious sources, you will be engaged in active, intense scientific work. Consider that in Dr. Shubhik DebBurman’s lab, numerous biology students experimented with a protein that leads to Parkinson’s disease and published their results in professional science journals; others worked alongside Dr. Anne Houde who published her work about the evolution of guppies in Nature; students accompanied Dr. Lori Del Negro to Houston to analyze air quality; while others worked with Dr. DeJuran Richardson, a biostatistician, on clinical trials to study treatments for patients affected by stroke and heart disease at Rush University Medical Center of Chicago. The strength of the sciences at Lake Forest is demonstrated by the high rate of graduate school acceptance in top programs around the country and the success of our graduates in a variety of careers. Whether you aspire to be a physician, scientist, physical therapist, engineer, physicist, computer analyst, biostatistician, teacher, or conservationist, a Lake Forest science degree will prepare you to attack the world’s big issues.
• Pre-Health Programs (pre-med, pre-veterinary, pre-dentistry, pre-optometry, and pre-pharmacy) • Biology • Chemistry • Computer Science • Digital Media Design • Engineering (Dual Degree, Washington University) • Environmental Studies • Mathematics • Neuroscience • Nursing (Affiliation, Rush School of Nursing) • Pharmacy (Dual Degree, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science) • Physics • Summer Fellows Program (Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science)
Sample Course Offerings • Analytical Mechanics • Biochemistry • Biodiversity and Agriculture • Chicago’s Water: Sustainability • Computer Architecture • Conservation of Medicine • Ecology and Evolution • Electronics • Environmental Chemistry • Great Theorems of Mathematics • Human Genetics • Instrumental Analysis • Lake Forestry • Mechanisms of Brain Dysfunction • Quantum Mechanics • Molecular Neuroscience • Robots, Termites, Bits, & Bytes • Thermodynamics • Tropical Ecology and Conservation • Web Programming • 2010 Blowout in Gulf of Mexico
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The medical school acceptance rate among Lake Forest graduates is 90% versus the national average of just 40%. Lake Forest College science graduates have gone on to such medical schools as Stanford University and Brown University and entered PhD programs at Princeton University and University of Chicago. cy
Student-Faculty Collaboration You will engage in scientific discovery working closely with faculty mentors who are nationally recognized researchers and scholars but who put teaching first. Professors are committed to both your academic and personal development and challenge you to reach your full potential. Working with Assistant Professor of Physics Nathan Mueggenburg, Zhonglin In addition to coursework, you may collaborate Zhao ’13 measures the angle at which x-rays scatter from an atomic crystal. From this information they will calculate the energy of the x-rays that are emitted with professors as a summer research when electrons bombard a copper target. associate or on your senior thesis project, which may result in coauthored publications and presentations at professional conferences. Science Journals You may also choose to challenge yourself by training with your Students have opportunities to coauthor journal articles with professors. Here is a professor for academic competitions such as the internationally sampling of journals in which students have competitive Putnam Math Competition. been published:
In the summer after the first year, each student in the Richter Apprentice Scholars Program is employed for a ten-week period working one-on-one with a faculty member doing independent research in a particular field.
• Animal Behavior • Analytical Chemistry • Chromosoma • Eukaryotic Cell • Inorganic Chemistry • Journal of Molecular Neuroscience • Nature • Organometallics • Physical Review A • Science
Conferences Students attend professional conferences with faculty to present their research findings and gain valuable experience and exposure. National conferences students have attended include:
Dr. Shubhik DebBurman, associate professor of biology, has received more than $700,000 in grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Parkinson Disease Foundation, and others to continue working with students to research Parkinson’s Disease. This emphasis on collaborative research led Katrina Brandis (pictured) to coauthor two scientific articles in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience. She is now earning her PhD in cell and molecular biology at Washington University in St. Louis.
• American Chemical Society • American Geophysical Union • American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology • American Society for Cell Biology • American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics • Electronic Imaging Symposium • Experimental Biology • Society of Developmental Biology • Society for Neuroscience
Hands-on Use Of Modern Instrumentation You have access to and will routinely use state-of-the-art equipment throughout your academic career at Lake Forest. Sara Herrera conducts research using a fluorescence microscope. She received a In laboratories with no more than 16 prestigious $25,000 National Institutes of Health undergraduate research grant and is now pursuing an MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin. students, professors (not teaching assistants) teach you to use and understand the instrumentation, which is the same Instrumentation equipment found in graduate schools and professional Students work with research-grade research and industry settings. instrumentation gaining skills typically learned in graduate school.
This hands-on experience enriches your undergraduate research and provides you with invaluable skills that help you gain acceptance to top-level graduate programs or secure competitive internships and jobs.
Biology
• Coulter counter • Fluorescence and immunofluorescence microscopy • Gel electrophoresis • High speed centrifuge • Incubators • Laminar flow hoods • Multi-imaging system • PCR • Phase contrast microscopes
Chemistry
• 400 and 60 MHz Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers • Fourier transform infrared spectrometers • GC mass spectrometers • LASER spectrometer for RAMAN spectroscopy • Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (LC-MS) • Portable spectrometers with accompanying laptop computers • Single crystal X-ray diffractometer and cameras • Stationary diode array visible and ultra-violet spectrophotometers
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Chemistry major Gilbert Reynders ’11 is using a Liquid Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS), a research-grade instrument that combines liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry for separation and structural identification of organic molecules.
• Digital oscilloscopes • Digital lock-in amplifiers • Frequency synthesizers • Germanium gamma ray detector/ spectrometer • Microwave frequency generator • Tunable diode lasers • UV, VIS, IR, X-ray spectrometers
High Value on Student Research Inspired by innovative and challenging courses, you are encouraged to develop and pursue your own research interests. Your faculty will mentor and work closely with you to indentify and create original opportunities. You will embark on hypothesisdriven journeys where answers are found not in textbooks, but in the lab and the field. Eukaryon, the student-run undergraduate research journal, publishes the very best of Lake Forest students’ life science scholarship, and is one of the few such journals in the country.
Students Michael Fiske ’10 and Alina Konnikova ’11, along with Assistant Professor of Biology Pliny Smith, attended the Society of Developmental Biology meeting in San Francisco where they were awarded first prize for the student-produced life science journal Eukaryon. Students regularly attend and present research at national conferences where they have garnered numerous awards. These academic leadership roles helped Michael get accepted to PhD programs in biology at Princeton and Johns Hopkins and Alina get accepted to several medical schools.
Active chapters of Tri Beta, Future Health Professionals, Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society, Synapse, Undergraduate Affiliates Network of the American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Society of Physics provide opportunities for you to share your research with peers at regional meetings. The College’s annual Student Symposium also provides an opportunity to present your research to the campus community.
Research Projects Students present their research to the campus community at the annual Student Symposium. Recent research projects include:
• Analyzing Splicing Differences in Genes Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease • Class Division within the American Environmental Movement • Combinatorial Game Theory and the Game of Rectangle • Dominance Hierarchies and Social Spacing in Western Lowland Gorillas • EIT: Making Slow Light • Electron Impact with Ultra-Cold Molecules • Exploratory Ionothermal Synthesis • Genetic Links to Schizophrenia • Granular Compaction Under an Applied Force • Lake Forest College Voting Web Application • New Method for Sampling Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) in Chicago Air Using Solid-phase Microextraction
Working with Dr. Lori Del Negro, associate professor of chemistry, Sharada Bean constructed an improved method for trapping trace gases in air samples. This development allowed Sharada and Professor Del Negro to travel to Houston, collecting air samples, analyzing data, and learning more about the sources and dispersal of emissions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sharada now works for Hall Environmental Analysis Laboratory.
• Possible New Cancer Treatments: Ribosome Biogenesis as an Unexplored Target • Synthesis of New Molecules in Ionic Liquids
Forward-Thinking Faculty Use an Interdisciplinary Approach Our faculty are leaders in innovative teaching of undergraduate science, and have earned their Students in the Environmental Studies senior seminar, Causes and PhDs from some of the most prestigious graduate Consequences of the Deepwater Horizon Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, traveled to New Orleans to see first-hand the issues that make New Orleans, the Gulf of programs in the country. They continually develop Mexico, and the Mississippi Delta a hotbed of important environmental issues. new ways to intellectually engage students to keep pace with technological and research advances, and publish their teaching successes in national Internships/Shadowing journals and textbooks. The curriculum at Lake Forest provides With the help of the Health Professions a solid foundation in the major coupled with an interdisciplinary Advisory Committee, students pursue approach, assuring that you will be able to collaborate and internships, as well as shadowing and communicate effectively across fields. Being open to new ideas and volunteer opportunities. A sampling includes: methods is crucial for problem solving, research, and discovery. • Abbott Laboratories For a science major, having the exposure to several disciplines opens the doors to a wide variety of career paths. Internships and shadowing opportunities also provide you with an avenue for exploring your career interests.
Journals and Textbooks Faculty regularly publish articles on new teaching strategies and methods in professional journals and also contribute to and author textbooks, including: American Biology Teacher
Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology
Animating Calculus: Mathematica Notebooks for the Laboratory
Functional Analysis; A Short Course
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Human Body: How it Works – Special Senses
Journal of Chemical Education
Mathematica for Mathematic Teachers
Journal of College Science Teaching
The Mathematics of Games and Gambling
Journal of Computing in Small Colleges
Plant Ecology
Life Science Education – Cell Biology Education
Web Applications
The Human Body: How it Works – Cells, Tissues, and Skin
• Animal Emergency and Referral Center • Children’s Memorial Hospital Chicago • Highland Park Hospital • Illinois Bone and Joint Institute • Lake Forest Open Lands • Lake Forest Pediatric Dentistry • Liberty Prairie Conservancy • Lincoln Park Zoo • Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital • Palatine Heart Center • Wildlife Discovery Center
Mathematica in Education
Neuroscience students study the connection between brain, mind, and behavior, combining the study of psychology with biology. Interdisciplinary training prepares students for diverse scientific professions.
After Lake Forest College
Leadership Skills and Student Groups
Graduate Schools
You will be part of Lake Forest’s award-winning community of math and science student organizations, a long-time tradition at the College. The vibrant and popular student groups provide many opportunities for taking on leadership roles, allowing you to make your mark on the world before you even graduate from college. It’s easy to get involved on campus. You can join the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS), which has received awards from the American Chemical Society for the last ten years. You might also work with Synapse students coordinating the annual Brain Awareness Week or organize volunteer outreach programs at local elementary schools through both the SAACS and Synapse groups. You may choose to compete at national competitions, as part of our award-wining Putnam Math group, or contribute articles to the student-run life science journal Eukaryon. Whichever organization you join, your peer community will help further your interests during and beyond your academic career.
• Columbia University • Duke University • Harvard University • Johns Hopkins University • Northwestern University • Princeton University • Stanford University • University of California- Berkeley • University of Chicago • University of Illinois • University of Pennsylvania • University of Washington-Seattle • University of Wisconsin-Madison • Washington University - St. Louis • Yale University
Medical/Health Professional Schools • Brown Medical School • Columbia University Medical School • Dartmouth Medical School • Harvard Medical School • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine • Loyola Medical School • Mayo Medical School • Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine • Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science • Rush Medical College • Stanford University School of Medicine • Tufts Dental School • University of California – San Diego Medical School • University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School • University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine • Wake Forest School of Medicine
Employers
Sarah Peluse ’13 and Spencer Sohn ’11, both of whom placed in the top 17% out of over 4,000 competitors in the annual Putnam International Math Competition, discuss the solution to a practice math problem with Professor David Yuen. Students get together weekly for a math competition practice session where they learn unusual problem-solving techniques.
• Abbott Laboratories • Americorps • Array BioPharma • Baxter Corporation • Cedars Sinai Medical Center • Johnson Wax Company • National Park Service • Northwestern Memorial Hospital • Northwestern University • Peace Corps • Roche Bioscience • Rush Medical Center • Teach for America • TAP Pharmaceuticals • 3M Company
LAKE FOREST COLLEGE
Office of Admissions • 800-828-4751 555 NORTH SHERIDAN ROAD, LAKE FOREST, IL 60045-2338 www.lakeforest.edu