Two MU students earn national fellowships

In 2001, Andrew Cox was a corporate worker with a solid paycheck. He wasn’t satisfied, though. He knew he hadn’t found what he really wanted to do yet. So he scrapped his corporate job, tried a few things out, went back to school and embarked on a career studying birds in the woods — about as far from cubicle life as you can get.

That’s passion, and passion is a requirement for a life in science. It’s also one reason, among many, that MU doctoral student Cox won a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. The same goes for fellow doctoral student Corey Costello. Cox and Costello are two winners among about 1,000 in the country who earned the selective fellowship.

In return for their passion and their promising work, they earn more than $30,000 in stipends, plus other benefits.

Lab life by example
For Costello, the fellowship means she can skip some of the usual grad student tasks — teaching assistantships or side jobs, for example — to spend more time in the lab. Costello does her doctoral research in bioengineering with Assistant Professor Sheila Grant, and she focuses on hernia repair materials.

Hernias, or ruptures in the abdominal fascia, can be painful ordeals. Unfortunately, so can their treatment; sometimes the polypropylene material surgeons implant to repair hernias causes problems of its own, including chronic pain or infections.

Costello studies why these materials fail in the body. Additionally, she tests alternative materials, including an MU-developed nanomaterial, that could be better options. That practical potential may have helped her earn the NSF fellowship, she says.

Costello also thinks her previous work as an NSF K-12 Teaching Fellow helped. In that program, she worked with junior high school students doing hands-on projects designed to get them interested in science and engineering. “It was basically to expose the kids to a real-life engineer,” Costello says. “They have a very stereotypical view — some crazy scientist in a lab — unless they are exposed to real examples.”

For the birds
Cox also highlights the importance of working with children. In fact, interacting with kids at zoos and during his early fieldwork helped him make the decision to pursue science as a career. Now, he and fellow MU students are starting an outreach program to promote science to kids in Columbia schools.

Working with kids is Cox’s way of giving back to the community, but it also keeps him grounded. “Kids at a certain age, they just soak up everything you have to say and get so excited about it,” he says. “That reminds you of why you were excited about it.”

Cox gets excited about birds. He uses the NSF fellowship to support his doctoral research in biological sciences. Working with Professor John Faaborg, he studies birds and the animals that prey upon their nests. Specifically, Cox studies how the way people use land affects the types of animals that prey on nests and, in turn, how that relates to the reproductive success of the birds.

In the past, researchers could theorize about these changes only indirectly, but Cox is using a direct technique: digital video recorders. Cox places recorders near nests to watch predatory activities and compile data. The work involves a lot of time in the field and a lot of time spent watching video recordings. Lucky for Cox, that’s part of his newfound passion.[source]