CBS People: Eileen Furlong

Job title: Senior Lab Services Coordinator
Number of years with the college: 10
Where you work: Biology Program, St. Paul Labs

Describe something interesting or unusual about your work here:
I work with the animal behavior teaching lab and get to work with a lot of fish, insects, and other arthropods. I came back after winter break to find one of the wolf spiders had had babies while I was gone. She was carrying a teaming mass of little spiderlings on her back!

What’s the oddest thing someone has left behind in a lab?
Someone once lost a small diamond from an earring. She contacted me and gave a very good description of where she had been working when she thought she may have lost it. I went to look and it was right where she had thought it would be. She was very happy about that.

How do you get to work?
If there is no snow and ice I ride my bike. When the roads are too treacherous I grab a ride with my husband to the East Bank and catch the first Campus Connector bus to St. Paul.

MN students prepare for spring break at the Rec

University of Minnesota students are getting in shape at the University Recreation (Rec) Center just in time for Spring Break. From the Olympic size pool to the Bod Pod, there is a lot to do to get your fitness on at the Rec! Plus, a planned expansion of the Rec Center will make plenty more room for free weights, treadmills, and more gym equipment.

The University Rec Center opened its doors in 1993. Located on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank Campus, the facility serves between 3,000 and 5,000 patrons on an average weekday during the academic year.

The University Recreation Center houses the following: 

• 2 fitness centers with state-of-the-art cardio and weight equipment
• 12 handball and racquetball courts
• 5 international size squash courts
• 2 gymnasiums
• Kitchenette (available for rent)
• Steam rooms/saunas
• Men/women/family locker rooms
• Pro Shop and Equipment Room
• UCard Office
• Courtside Café
• Lounges

To learn more about what the Rec Center and its programs, visit the Rec Center Web site.

Study Abroad: Biology of The Galápagos

Listen to CBS students and faculty share their experiences studying biology in the Galápagos Islands!

Discover yourself through studying abroad in the Galápagos Islands, where you will . . .

-Be immersed in a biological paradise and see ancient turtles, finches, marine iguanas, giant land iguanas, sea lions, magnificent frigatebirds, penguins, blue-footed, red-footed, and masked boobies!

-Visit Dragon Hill and Venice at Santa Cruz, and hike to a hypersalinic lagoon behind the beach, occasionally visited by pink flamingos.

-Ride around the islet along the coast of Santa Cruz, where you will have a chance to see marine animals like spotted eagle rays and golden rays, mullets, white tipped reef sharks and Pacific green sea turtles

-Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station.

-Visit the Devil’s Crown, a sunken crater where red-billed tropicbirds and blue-footed boobies breed.

-Hike along the white sand beach filled with sea lions, mockingbirds, and brown pelicans.

-Visit Punta Suarez, famous for its varied colonies of sea birds including large colonies of blue-footed boobies, masked boobies, waved albatrosses, and swallow tailed gulls.

-Enjoy an excursion to Santa Fe Island, which has one of the best locations for swimming with sea lions and is also a great place to catch a glimpse of the Galápagos white-tipped shark and sea turtles.

Did you know that the University of Minnesota has the largest study abroad programs in the nation? Check out more study abroad programs offered by the College of Biological Sciences.

Study Abroad: Tropical Reef Ecology

Listen to what College of Biological Sciences students and faculty say about their experiences studying tropical reef ecology off Roatan in Honduras!

Discover yourself through studying abroad in Honduras, where you will . . .

-Earn three course credits in December and January while spending a week diving in one of the most magnificent coral reef communities in the world!

-Conduct an independent-research project in an intact coral reef.

-Learn about the evolution and ecology of coral inhabitants.

-Enjoy a night dive, dolphin dive, and two boat dives daily.

-Study oceanography, zoology, evolution, and animal behavior in authentic settings.

-Take a side trip to the spectacular Mayan ruins of Copan on the mainland of Honduras.

Did you know that the University of Minnesota has the largest study abroad programs in the nation? Check out more study abroad programs offered by the College of Biological Sciences.

Meet the Scientist: Helene Muller Landau

What determines the variety of trees in a tropical forest? Is it the seed size? Perhaps seed-hungry animals? And what happens to forests that are being drastically changed by humans? Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist, Helene Muller Landau, talks about her attempt to find answers to these questions.

Faculty in the College of Biological Sciences conduct a broad range of research, from molecules to ecosystems, and make discoveries that improve human health, restore the environment, provide new sources of renewable energy and enhance agriculture.

CBS faculty are also committed to training the next generation of scientists. They welcome students into their research labs and guide them through independent research projects. Their enthusiasm for hands-on education is one of the reasons CBS attracts such highly qualified students. Click here to check out the curent research that is being done in CBS!

CBS Spotlight: The Truth About Lions

Craig Packer, a CBS professor and leading expert on lions, is featured in the January issue of Smithsonian magazine in an article called “The Truth About Lions."

One of Packer’s more sensational experiments took aim at a long-standing mystery. A male lion is the only cat with a mane, and some scientists believed its function was to protect an animal’s neck during fights. But because lions are the only social felines, Packer thought manes were more likely a message or a status symbol. He asked a Dutch toy company to craft four plush, lifesize lions with light and dark manes of different lengths. He named them Lothario, Fabio, Romeo and Julio (as in Juilo Iglesias—this was the late 1990s!).

Professor Packer attracted lions to the dolls using calls of scavenging hyenas. When they encountered the dummies, female lions almost invariably attempted to seduce the dark-maned ones, while males avoided them, preferring to attack the blonds, particularly those with shorter manes.

Packer has been running the Serengeti Lion Project for 31 or its 43 years. It is the most extensive carnivore study ever conducted. You can learn more about Professor Packer and his fascinating work in the Smithsonian article.

Interested in animals and zoology?

Check out Biology 2012: General Zoology, and listen to lecturers Frank Barnwell and Keith Barker describe what the University of Minnesota can offer you! After all, this is just one of the many exciting and challenging courses offered through the College of Biological Sciences.