Nolan Rutherford, an Honors student and Senior at LCU,  presented a poster of his research project last Friday at the West Texas STEM Conference for Undergraduate Research held at Midland College.  Congratulations to Nolan for placing second in the biological division!

The Natural Sciences Department of LCU is conducting an ongoing study of urban playa lakes in Lubbock and the seasonal impact migratory waterfowl have on the water quality. Nolan is involved in the microbiological aspects of this study, which covers everything from total aerobic bacterial loads with a specific interest in fecal coliform patterns, particularly E. coli; to pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria found in these playa lakes. This last year he was able to present his research and represent LCU at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). As for his next independent research, he plan to evaluate the  antibiotic resistance of around 100 individual E. coli strains.

We are so proud to have Nolan representing both LCU and the Honors Program!