Undergrad Ag Researchers Honored

Utah State University undergraduate researchers Diana Lewis and Aaron Davis were recently recognized by the College of Agriculture for academic excellence in the classroom and the laboratory.

 

"Both researchers are typical of the outstanding young men and women laboring in our labs in the college," said Interim Dean Paul Rasmussen.

 

A nutrition and food sciences major, Lewis received a University Research and Creative Opportunities Grants through Utah State's Office of the Vice President for Research to study dietary supplement use among people involved in the university's groundbreaking Cache County Study on Memory, Health and Aging. Working with faculty mentor Heidi Wengreen, Lewis discovered that more than 86 percent of study participants, ages 74 to 102, reported regular use of at least one supplement.

 

The study is important, said Wengreen, because supplements interact with both prescription and over-the-counter medications and can have a significant impact on one's health.

 

Lewis worked as a quality assurance technician for the Cache County Memory Study prior to starting her research project and, after crunching numbers and data, said she welcomed the opportunity to actually meet participants in the study. "It was interesting to talk with people and discuss their dietary habits," she said.

 

A native of Arco, Idaho, she was one of five Utah State students invited to share their research expertise with a group of 2,000 undergraduates and faculty from across the country at the 19^th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research held April 20-23 in Lexington, Va.

 

Lewis begins her senior year at Utah State this fall. Following graduation, she plans to pursue graduate studies in clinical dietetics. "I'd like to counsel patients who need to make lifestyle changes due to medical conditions," she said.

 

Davis, who hails from Brigham City, was named Undergraduate Researcher of the Year by the college. Fresh from an LDS mission to Brazil and intent on attending med school, he chose international studies as his major and minors in biology and chemistry early in his college career. Inspired by a lecture about Utah State's bovine embryo transfer research, Davis joined professor Kenneth White's research team, which is working to understand and improve the health of placentas that support the development of cloned embryos.

 

Now entering his senior year, Davis is attempting to create a line of stem cells that develop into placental tissue and could be injected into a nuclear transfer embryo to supplement existing cells. White says, if successful, the innovative procedure would provide more competent placenta development and thus improve cloned embryo survival.

 

"The research project was so interesting to me and I've loved it so much I've decided to pursue a research career rather than medicine," said Davis.

 

Davis initially chose Utah State because both his parents are alumni and some of his friends are Aggies. "I thought I might transfer somewhere else after a semester, but I love Logan, love the school and have loved participating in cutting edge research as an undergrad," he said.

 

Davis plans to pursue continued research in reproductive biology at the graduate level and said Utah State is on his list for future studies.