The 2012 online edition will be available on the College website beginning March 4, 2012, and a campus reception celebrating the collaborative work of the students and faculty will be held on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at 4:00 p.m. in McCormick Auditorium. Dr. Michael LaBarbera of The University of Chicago will present a public lecture there titled “A Biomechanic at the Movies” at 4:45 p.m. Please call 847-735-6051 for more information.

About Eukaryon

Eukaryon is an award-winning undergraduate research journal that publishes the very best of life science scholarship conducted by Lake Forest College students. The goal of the journal is to celebrate and highlight the academic accomplishments achieved by these students within the research-rich classrooms and labs, and within the life science-related activities of Lake Forest College science majors on and off campus. The word “eukaryon” and the journal logo reflect the diversity of organisms that the Biology Department faculty is involved with in their research.

The students and faculty of the Department of Biology founded this peer-reviewed online journal in 2004 and published the inaugural issue in January 2005. In 2007, the journal also began publishing a limited print version. An editorial board comprised of biology students is responsible for peer reviewing, copy editing, and publishing the journal annually. The board also authors all editorial policies of the journal with the goal of making Eukaryon a truly student-produced publication that maintains high scientific journalistic standards.

The 2012 issue maintains the journal’s high selectivity in peer review. The journal has also improved on several other fronts: increasing the academic diversity of the journal to include submissions from the Department of Psychology and the Environmental Studies Program, creating more comprehensive rubrics to use during the review process of article submissions, and printing the journal on post-consumer waste content recycled paper. All of this was accomplished while maintaining the high level of quality established by previous boards, which was made possible through cooperation between Eukaryon’s members. Editor-in-chief Saajidha Rizvydeen ’12 states, “This has been a fantastic year for Eukaryon, and we have produced a journal of which I am extremely proud. None of this would have been possible without the great support system we have within our organization.”

Current advisor, Associate Professor of Biology Sean Menke, “provided innovative ideas and encouraged [the members of Eukaryon] to truly embody the experience of being part of a student-run, peer-reviewed journal,” as stated by editor-in-chief, Saajidha Rizvydeen ’12.

About Michael LaBarbera

Dr. Michael LaBarbera is a Professor of Anatomy at The University of Chicago where he has worked since 1978. Dr. LaBarbera received a B.S. from Cornell University in 1970 and a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1976. He is currently working under grants from the US Department of Education for “GAANN: Graduate Training in Evolutionary Environmental Biology” and from the National Science Foundation for “Urban Teacher Education Program Secondary Math and Science.” Recently, Dr. LaBarbera has focused on mammalian biomechanics. He has published two papers, in 2010 and 2008, on the effects of body shape on the aerodynamics of flying snakes and the effects of tooth blade shape on the energetics of cutting, respectively.

These biomechanical themes in LaBarbera’s current research translate to the topic of his presentation at the Eukaryon inauguration on March 6, 2012 at which time he will present on the biomechanics of the monsters depicted in modern cinema. Editor-in-chief Saajidha Rizvydeen, ‘12 comments on the subject: “As a sophomore, I had the incredible opportunity of attending Dr. LaBarbera’s keynote speech at the 2009 Argonne Undergraduate Symposium. This talk left me with a curiosity for an unfamiliar and exciting topic.” Furthermore, due to the mainstream applications of Dr. LaBarbera’s lecture topic, Saajidha expresses that she is “confident that this exciting educational lecture will attract an audience with diverse interests.”

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