University of Portland senior Alexandra Quackenbush was awarded the Rita W. Peterson Award in Science Education from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) during its recent Pacific Division conference. Quakenbush also received second place in her division for her project and presentation. Quackenbush, a biology and mathematics double major and member of the University’s Honors Program, worked on her project with biology professor Ami Ahern-Rindell. The project, “Ethics Tutorial for Students Engaging in Undergraduate Biological Research,” was completed as part of the University’s Dundon-Berchtold Fellowships.
For the project, Quackenbush surveyed junior and senior students in biology labs by posing behavior scenarios. The pair found that students had gaps in their understanding of ethical situations, especially in the areas of data management, authorship, and experimental design.
The Rita W. Peterson Award in Science Education, was established in 2002 to honor an outstanding student presentation in an area of science education research.
The Dundon-Berchtold Fund for Moral Development and Applied Ethics was established by University of Portland regent Amy Dundon-Berchtold and her husband Jim Berchtold ’63. The fund is designed to ensure that the University meets its “aspirations both to form the moral character of its students and to conduct sustained ethical reflection in applied aspects of business, science, engineering, education, health care, and the arts. The fund includes Dundon-Berchtold Fellowships, which started in 2013 and provide for students and faculty mentors to study contemporary ethical issues related to their own academic disciplines as well as the many vocations and professions supported by the University’s educational mission.
For more information contact Dan McGinty, provost’s office, at 7105 or mcgintyd@up.edu.