Category: Research

When the United States left Vietnam and Southeast Asia following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Hmong who had supported U.S. military operations were targeted by the communist-supported regime in Laos. Thousands fled to Thailand and were placed in refugee camps. Following the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975, Laotian refugees arrived in the United States in great numbers. Anika Nelson, Luther College senior of Carroll, Iowa, is interviewing Hmong refugees that came to Decorah from Laos during the Vietnam War for her summer research project.

Understanding foreign cultures and global citizenship can be a struggle for some students. Peder Smith, Luther College junior of Brainerd, Minnesota, is creating, along with Luther’s Nordic studies research team, historically based role-playing simulations in order to stimulate and to engage students in the learning of modern languages.

According to research by Luther College senior Catelyn Janda, a community music school would benefit not only local musicians but also Luther College music education students looking to get more hands-on experience. The Batavia, Illinois, native is spending her summer exploring the creation of a Luther College Community Music School.

Luther College is joining the push to mitigate one of the most critical public health crises facing the world, according to the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention: antibiotic resistance via development of a new research-based lab course by Jodi Enos-Berlage, Luther professor of biology, and a summer research collaboration between Enos-Berlage and Martel DenHartog, Luther senior majoring in neuroscience.

Dogs have the ability to communicate with human beings through everyday interactions and bonds. With his summer research project, Jacob Noble, Luther College senior of Plymouth, Minnesota, is studying the extent to which certain interactions affect canine-human relations.

Is there more to cafeteria and food services workers quitting than just not wanting to work in the food industry for a living? Jacob Wessels, Luther College senior of Dubuque, Iowa, is examining the reasons behind turnover of food service workers for his summer research project and will use the information he gathers to help the college’s cafeteria student work retention rates.

A Norwegian immigrant in the Midwest in the 1860s, Herbjørn Gausta was a painter who attended Luther College in 1872. He painted portraits of influential people, genre scenes and landscapes in the Midwest and Norway. Annika Vande Krol, Luther College senior from Decorah, Iowa, is in her second year of summer research about Gausta in an effort to find previously unknown works.

Luther College’s Social Impact Fellowship Program partners together one student studying social work and one student studying business to research a problem and develop a business plan for a solution. Italee Castellon, Luther College senior from Chicago, Illinois, and Lauren Voigt, Luther College junior from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, are working with nonprofit organizations in the surrounding Decorah area in order to better connect Luther College students with volunteer opportunities.

Unit testing involves testing individual components of software to assure each smaller section performs as it was designed before testing the larger unit’s functionality. Through his summer research project, David Oniani, Luther College first-year of Tbilisi, Georgia, is exploring whether unit testing could be used in a classroom setting to provide immediate feedback for students.

Roughly five million Americans live with fibromyalgia, a chronic disease with no standard treatment or cure that involves musculoskeletal pain. Shannon Lunn, Luther College junior of Farmington, Minnesota, is exploring experiences men have with fibromyalgia for her summer research project.