Research

Northern Michigan University's Department of Psychological Science has received a $413,000 National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation award to facilitate a new frontier in human neuroscience research that could transform the field. NMU will use the funds to acquire an integrated system that assesses the cause-and-effect brain-behavior relationships underlying social interactions and other aspects of human behavior, which could have implications for those with depression, anxiety or addiction disorders. 

The Nile River in northeastern Africa is heavily relied upon for survival and livelihood. It supplies drinking water, irrigation for crops, fish and hydroelectricity. But the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Upper Nile, which represents Africa's largest hydropower project, is at the center of a conflict involving Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. Northern Michigan University assistant professor Jongeun You examined the policy setting related to the GERD conflict, which could apply to comparable cases across different contexts. His research paper was published in World Water Policy.

Northern  Michigan University biology student Maddy Saddler will address freshwater acidification and its implications for the Great Lakes ecosystem during a Thursday, July 27 presentation in her hometown of Alpena. She will give details about her role as a research intern working on the ongoing freshwater acidification monitoring project with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, and Michigan Sea Grant. 

NMU BIology Professor Neil Cumberlidge recently attended a week-long freshwater crab workshop at the Museum für Naturkunde (Natural History Museum) in Berlin, Germany. He joined international colleagues working on new collections of freshwater crabs resulting from the group's biological surveys of three central and West African biodiversity hotspots in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.

Northern Michigan University researchers are exploring the feasibility of using hemp to remediate soil contaminated with PFAS, a group of manufactured chemicals that make a wide range of industry and consumer products non-stick, greaseproof and flame retardant. NMU Chemistry Professor Lesley Putman said the hope is that hemp will not only draw up PFAS from the ground, but ultimately be able to degrade them, unlike the typical and more costly remediation methods using granular activated charcoal or reverse osmosis.

Northern Michigan University graduate students Michael Woodworth and Amy Munes were recently selected as Presidential Management Fellows (PMF), a prestigious program that partners early-career professionals with U.S. Federal Agencies to make a difference in government and impact their communities. There were 850 fellows chosen from more than 10,000 applicants.

Northern Michigan University held its annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, during which students present their research in a compressed format using a single slide and layperson-friendly language. Nathan Joyal, an integrated biology major, finished first in the graduate student category for summarizing his research on the relative commercial viability of growing cannabis in “organic super soil” compared with soil treated with salt-based commercial fertilizer. Adan Mulvaney, a communications major, took top honors among McNair Scholars for her research on female-identifying youth in scouting.

A Northern Michigan University biology lab is researching burbot, an understudied native cold-water fish that exists throughout the Great Lakes. Graduate students, undergraduates and even a high school intern are gaining biological knowledge of the species' development and characteristics.

Seven Northern Michigan University faculty members have been selected to receive 2023 Faculty Research Grants. The awards of $7,000 each support scholarly activities such as publications, the creation of artistic works, manuscript development and research projects. The recipients and their project titles are: