Prescott - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

An Embry-Riddle undergraduate has tested field research methods that demonstrate a cheaper, more efficient and less invasive way of identifying and assessing wildlife communities. The research, conducted by student Courtney Turner-Rathbone, originated at Embry-Riddle’s campus in Prescott, Ariz. The project involved drawing water samples out of the Verde River in Arizona’s central highlands and analyzing the DNA present in those samples using sophisticated sequencing methods. It represents the first research to come out of a collaboration between Embry-Riddle’s new Forensic Biology and Wildlife Science programs.

Five undergraduate Space Physics students were selected to assist in conducting experiments with the CCM (Coherent Captain Mills) neutrino detector at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), N.M. The experiment is designed to search for “sterile” neutrinos, a possible source of dark matter.