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Greenville University alum, professor see work published in science journal

Published: June 25, 2021

Greenville University alum, professor see work published in science journal

Student researchers at the Boardman River in summer 2014. Photo courtesy of Joel Betts, a student researcher for two summers, as well as co-author of the article.

Long ago, in the not-so-faraway land of Michigan, a Greenville University student waded through a stream, gathering data to sort and analyze in a lab.

That alum, Mason Tennell 16, and current GU Biology Professor Eric Nord recently joined their fellow researchers in seeing the culmination of years of work published in a science journal.

I was honestly ecstatic, Tennell says, in response to hearing about the journal publication. It was something I enjoyed working on [and] I know how hard we worked that summer and how hard Dr. Nord worked on it.

Tennell spent the summer of 2015 in Michigan getting hands-on experience in environmental biology through collecting and analyzing data on the effects of a dam removal on stream organisms. GU Associate Professor of Biology Eric Nord was part of the team that analyzed the data, and he also co-authored and edited the study for publication. Both were involved thanks to the Au Sable Institute which coordinated the project. GU, along with about 40 other schools, is an Au Sable Institute partner.

The research article, Response of benthic macroinvertebratesto dam removal in the restoration of the Boardman River, Michigan, USA, documents a study that spanned six years, from 2011 until 2016. Researchers examined how removal of the Brown Bridge Dam in late 2012 affected insect communities upstream and downstream from the dam.

Dr. David Mahan, former associate executive director of the Au Sable Institute, conceived the idea for the study. One of few long-term studies on the effects of dam removal, this study also gives valuable insight into a larger question of how dams ultimately change the biology of a river.

Tennell, now a high school science teacher, says his experience as part of the team of scientists and student researchers offered invaluable life experience and professional experience that he believes made him a better teacher.

I dont necessarily work in a lab doing research like that (now), but I think its been really beneficial to me in the sense that I can teach with that experience, Tennell says. I can communicate to my students about what its like in the scientific community, what its like doing research and what scientists want to accomplish.

He adds that the experience offered more enrichment and real-world experience than the typical two or three-hour lab. Professor Nord agrees with the sentiment, stressing the importance of opportunities like summer research experience for undergraduates.

Theres only so much you can do in a three-hour lab, Nord says, explaining that scientists involved in this project spent four years and thousands of hours of work on research. Thats why research experience like this is important, because its really the only way you get fully exposed to both the intellectual challenge of working on designing your own research, working through the different types of the process, and the sometimes substantial amount of monotonous work it involves.

Hands-on learning experience isnt just for students. Nord joined the team in 2015 to analyze data from the dam removal study and help with the writing and many rounds of editing of the paper before its publication in May 2021.

For me, its been an important way to continue being active as a scientist . . . and thats been rewarding, Nord says.

The research article, Response of benthic macroinvertebrates to dam removal in the restoration of the Boardman River, Michigan, USA, was published in PLOS ONE.

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