Every summer for the past 10 years, Dr. Alison Bray, Chemistry Department Chair, has overseen a group of current Texas Lutheran University students as they conduct research. The groups are aptly named “Team Rice,” because their research involves sampling and testing water from the San Marcos River—the only place in Texas where a particular endangered species of wild rice grows.
This year's version of Team Rice—also known as Team Rice 10.0—used their summer research time to evaluate water quality by taking upstream and downstream samples from the San Marcos and Comal rivers, then analyzing and comparing their findings to data collected 30 years ago by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Fascinating and important research—so it’s no wonder that two members of this year’s team were invited to the UTSA Chemistry Department’s Annual Undergraduate Research Showcase to present their findings.
“We talked about our research from this past summer,” says biochemistry major Aurora Fox. Fox says that in comparing river samples, the team looked at such things as pH levels, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, trace metals, and pollutants, as well as calcium and magnesium to establish water hardness. “We went out and collected the data ourselves which was loads of fun and definitely included some swimming,” she adds.
“Our data showed that these rivers in general have either improved in quality or remained the same in some areas,” says fellow team member Logan Randall, a chemistry and communications major. “We hope to continue to process some of our samples in the future and to continue looking for new areas within this research.”
“The showcase event was a great opportunity for our students to share their summer research with peers and faculty from other area universities as well as a chance to learn about graduate school options at UTSA in chemistry,” says Bray, who also spoke about undergraduate research at TLU during the showcase.
Randall says he and Fox were proud to represent TLU at the event. “It is really exciting to represent TLU in any capacity, but even more so when presenting research you helped carefully craft.” Randall had worked with Bray to develop the plan for the summer research well in advance of the team’s actually getting out into the field. “Sharing our research in an academic capacity is also really enriching, to see how other academics view the work we have done and suggest possible collaboration or new directions for our research, while also providing unique research knowledge for others to learn about.”
“Going to other campuses to show all the knowledge and experience we've learned is awesome, but with the project we worked on this summer, relating to people while presenting was even more exciting,” says Fox. “We talked about very relevant things to people who seemed interested in what Logan and I had to say. This made me take so much pride in my project and in TLU as the campus who provided the resources for it.”
Team Rice’s research was funded by a grant from the Welch Foundation. The Welch Foundation is one of the nation’s largest private funding sources for fundamental chemical research at universities, colleges and other educational institutions in Texas.