Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
A sampling of this year's research topics by UNLV graduate students includes a study of mummified human remains and a project that attempts to peer into the world of psychics.
A total of 70 research projects were presented at a recent graduate student research forum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. UNLV officials say this list of research projects is the largest yet and indicates a thriving research environment.
"I was very impressed by the quality of the research and how interesting it was, as well as how diverse the topics were that students are pursuing," said Gale Sinatra, UNLV's associate dean for academic affairs at the graduate college. "I think it definitely indicates a direction for UNLV that we have a stronger agenda for research."
UNLV has declared its goal of becoming a premier doctoral-granting institution, and Sinatra said the increasing participation of student graduates in scholarly research is a big step toward achieving that goal.
While the graduate research forum held earlier this month included students who have partially completed their graduate degrees, most of the work is representative of the kind of research projects graduate students will turn in when doctoral dissertations and master's theses are due.
Topics range from the exotic to the practical. Aside from the studies of mummies and psychics, researchers also studied 8,000 years of dental health in Sonora, Mexico, groundwater contamination in Henderson and patterns of gold deposits.
One project that could make an impact on Las Vegas was conducted by Jose Machado, a 31-year-old student from Brazil who is working on his Ph.D. in civil engineering.
Machado decided to look at the contamination in the Las Vegas Wash caused by perchlorate seeping into the groundwater from the Kerr-McGee plant in Henderson. Used as a rocket fuel booster, perchlorate can interfere with the functions of the thyroid gland or slow growth in children.
Scientists for years have been working on assessing the introduction of this contaminant into the wash, but have never determined the exact size of what they call the perchlorate "plume" in the wash.
Machado took on the task of calculating the approximate size of perchlorate contamination. He found that the main plume in the Las Vegas Wash is an estimated 8.7 million gallons and weighs 20.4 million pounds. A second plume in the wash weighs 1.1 million pounds, the study found.
"Actually they didn't have any estimations about the mass and volumes, so this is the first estimation," Machado said. "It's a problem that affects all of us because it has to do with the quality of the lake and the water."
Jaci Batista, an environmental engineering associate professor at UNLV who is overseeing Machado's research, said his results are meaningful.
"I know there are significant findings from his research," Batista said.
Machado was able to determine that it took between 25 to 46 years for the main perchlorate plume to travel from the groundwater to the wash. The second plume, he concluded, took just five years.
Another project that set out to solve a puzzle was one conducted by Gwyn Madden. Madden, who is working on her doctoral dissertation in physical anthropology, gave her study the catchy title "Misplaced Mummies."
Madden came to UNLV to study with associate professor Bernardo Arriaza, an expert on Chilean mummies.
Because Arriaza's renown, UNLV received 13 mummies. One came to UNLV from the Clark County coroner's office; others were sent by amateur archeologists. Nothing was known about their origins or age until Madden got hold of them.
"Anytime you have mummies, especially in the U.S., they are relatively rare," Madden said. "I wanted to see if I could identify them using non-invasive techniques and I did that with all but about two."
Madden's research found that the mummy sent by the coroner's office was about 50 years old and probably from Southern Nevada.
She also concluded that a mummified foot was approximately 3,500 years old, but she was unable to determine where it came from.
While Madden delved into history, Kyle Sims, 24, a master's degree candidate from Las Vegas majoring in criminal justice, chose to peer into the world of psychics.
Sims said he wanted to explore how psychic intuition compares with the intuitive judgments of criminal justice students.
When homicide cases go cold, police departments have been known to turn to psychics for clues.
"I am not dealing with belief or disbelief; I'm looking for evidence here," Sims said. "I've always had a fascination, ever since I was a kid, with the unknown and with trying to explain the unexplainable."
Many of the students' research was assisted by $500 grants from the Graduate and Profession Student Association. Most of the students who made presentations at the association's annual forum will now hit the road and talk about their research at national conferences.
"When they go to these different parts of the country, they will be going as representatives of UNLV," Sinatra said. "In that sense, I think UNLV is very well represented."
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