Probing the prairie
KEARNEY — Pillowy clouds floated across the blue sky as Emma Dowhower walked along a trail at the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie.
Chirping birds and a summer breeze blowing through the rolling hills muffled the sound of her footsteps.
"It's very serene," said Dowhower, a senior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. "You're just listening to the birds. I really enjoy being outside, and that's the best part about this."
The wildlife biology major from North Platte also thinks about the area's historical significance each time she visits.
She and UNK biology professor Bryan Drew are helping the nonprofit Willa Cather Foundation manage this majestic prairie by completing a floristic inventory of the plant life found there.
"It's a pretty neat place," Drew said. "When you're down in those draws, you feel like you're back in the 1800s."
Added Dowhower, who participated in the project through UNK's Summer Student Research Program, "It's been almost 50 years since any research was done out here, so there's been a lot of time for changes to happen."
Botanical treasureTallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America, but less than 4% of that remains intact today.
The Willa Cather Memorial Prairie was established in 1975 to protect this important ecosystem and preserve the natural beauty that inspired a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who grew up here in the late 19th century.
Located along Highway 281 just south of Red Cloud, the 612-acre botanical treasure has never been plowed or farmed. It boasts an ever-changing tapestry of native grasses and flowers – more than 250 species in total – and serves as critical habitat for insects, birds, amphibians and other wildlife.
Dowhower visited the prairie a few times a week throughout the summer, collecting and cataloging different plant species.
The information she and Drew gather will be compared to studies conducted in the 1970s, allowing them to document any changes in the biodiversity and gauge the effectiveness of land management practices.
Dowhower participated in another research project with Drew through the Undergraduate Research Fellows program, and she'll continue working on the floristic survey throughout the current academic year.
"One of my favorite things about taking plant taxonomy with Dr. Drew was going out and collecting plants, and I think that's why this project interested me so much," she said.
"Research let me get some hands-on experience outside the classroom. Being in a classroom is great and everything, but being able to get outside and see plants in different life stages is so much more valuable," she added.
"I also get to work in a lab, which I had never done before. Even though I wasn't necessarily good at lab work, at least I have an introduction for the future if I need it."
Drew points to the same benefits. He mentors a few undergraduate researchers each year, giving them a chance to try new things and develop skills they'll continue using well into the future.
"It's fun seeing them learn and grow," Drew said. "I never had this opportunity when I was an undergrad."
A life-altering experienceFellow UNK biology professor Dawn Simon participated in undergraduate research when she attended the University of Iowa. She called it a "life-altering experience."
"There is not a chance I would be doing what I do now without those experiences," said Simon, who serves as director of undergraduate research and creative activity on campus.
"I want every student at UNK to have the same chance. Our programs are designed to provide these opportunities for as many students as possible," she added.
SSRP is open to any full-time undergraduate student. Participants receive a $3,250 stipend paid over five months. Students involved in URF receive a $1,200 annual stipend.
The university also offers financial assistance for students to present their work at professional conferences.
"UNK heavily invests in undergraduate research and creative activity," Simon said. "This allows students to have mentors who are invested in students and their projects, which elevates the quality of the work. I am astonished each and every year at the quality of the work I see and the strength of our students," she added.
Each spring, the annual Research Day celebration highlights the creative and scholarly work produced by Lopers. Nearly 200 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the 2024 event.
No matter what their professional plans are, Simon believes every student has something to gain from undergraduate research.
"I don't believe anyone can know if they like research or creative activity without actually putting a serious effort into it," she said.
The power of readingUNK junior Noelle Abels is studying communication disorders with plans to become a speech-language pathologist.
The Omaha native began undergraduate research in fall 2023, working on a project with associate professor of communication disorders Ladan Ghazi Saidi.
"One of my close friends does undergraduate research for the biology department. She has such an amazing relationship with her adviser and her lab group, and I wanted that," Abels explained. "I love everything about it. It's stuff that you don't learn in a class, but it's so useful."
Their project, a collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focuses on nonpharmaceutical interventions that can slow cognitive decline in older adults.
"Aging typically comes with cognitive decline," Ghazi Saidi said. "But we know we have a window when we can stimulate the mind in ways that would postpone those signs and symptoms so that person would be able to live independently with a higher quality of life for a longer time."
Learning a new language can be a "very good stimulative intervention," according to Ghazi Saidi, who directs the UNK Language and Cognition Lab.
Now, they want to compare those results to another promising intervention – reading in your native language.
The University of Nebraska team will examine adults ages 60 to 80, starting with an fMRI scan to measure their brain activity. Each participant will then read news stories for 60 minutes a day, five times a week, using an online app. After four months, they'll be reassessed to determine the cognitive effects.
Through her involvement in both URF and SSRP, Abels has strengthened skills such as teamwork, communication and time management. More importantly, she gets to be part of something bigger than herself.
"I have people in my family with dementia. I used to work at a retirement home, and you can see how dementia and Alzheimer's really impact older people. To think of a future where that's less of an issue is so amazing," she said.
Ghazi Saidi gains satisfaction from watching her students succeed as researchers. "If they're succeeding, it means I've been successful, but apart from that, it's just fun. I love talking with my students, engaging with them and learning with them," she said.
Ultimately, she hopes some will continue doing this as a career. "We are in desperate need of researchers in our field. Science gets old very quickly, so we cannot just rely on what we already know," she said.
