A new musical group on campus, a new biomedical instrument and a video documenting the threats imposed by exotic species in Florida and Texas are among the projects that will come out of this year’s King Creativity Program. 

This is the 10th year of the program, which was started in 2000 with an endowment provided by Southwestern alumnus W. Joseph “Joey” King. Each year, the endowment supports up to 20 “innovative and visionary projects” proposed by Southwestern students. This year, six projects were funded for a total of $17,955. Students will present their projects at a symposium to be held on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Lauren Bird, a sophomore English major, received $5,575 to fund a steel drum band that will be called the SU Steelpan Ensemble. The ensemble will perform public concerts featuring the distinctive genre of music from the Caribbean. Other members of the ensemble will include Briana Garcia and Thomas Newman. It will be open to all Southwestern students, faculty and staff.

Pelham Keahey, a senior physics major, received $3,400 to build a new type of apparatus for the detection and identification of microorganisms. The device will record changes in the electrochemical properties of samples suspected to contain microorganisms. Such a device could enable doctors to prescribe specific treatments sooner, since current methods for detecting which pathogen has caused an infection can take from three days to several weeks. The detector will be based on a design patented by Gerald Wade, shop manager for the Fondren Jones Science Center. Physics majors Will Hardy and Mason Cradit will assist Keahey on the project, along with biology major Andrea Holland and chemistry major Steven Solis. This is the fourth King Creativity Grant Keahey has received.

Matt Trawick, a senior biology major, received $2,950 to create a film that will document the threats imposed by exotic species in Florida and Texas. The two species the film will focus on are an applesnail known as Pomacea insularum and the Burmese python. Since most exotic species are introduced by humans, Trawick hopes the film will help reduce such behavior. Olivia Stanzer, Allyson Plantz, Brandon O’Conner, Jessilyn Massey and Ryan Saurage will help Trawick make the film. All are students in Biology Professor Romi Burks’ research lab.

Other King Creativity projects funded this year include the following:

Duncan Alexander, a senior art major, received $1,830 to produce and display four artworks that will experiment with the interaction between paintings and digital animated projections overlaid on the surface of the paintings. Alexander will present his artworks to the public as part of his senior exhibition Dec. 3-13. He also will post the works on his blog at http://hypothete.blogspot.com/

Carlos Barron, also a senior art major, received $1,830 to create an exhibition of large-scale digital prints that will showcase his talent in the area of insect macrophotography. Barron said he wants to show viewers the “individual nature of the inhabitants of a microcosmic world that is normally hidden from our view.” The works also will be shown as part of his senior thesis exhibition and posted to an online gallery.

Morgan Mingle and Stephanie Henderson received $2,400 that will enable them to take advantage of a rare opportunity to study and work with infant dolphins at Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour, Australia. The two will spend four weeks there over the holiday break. Their goal is to help understand how the dolphins develop language ability and the social context in which certain vocalizations are made. Both are junior animal behavior majors.